


I Would Offer It Happy With a Smile On My Face

by WritingPaperGhost



Series: Waiting at the End of the Road is Happiness [1]
Category: Ultraman R/B (TV), ウルトラシリーズ | Ultra Series
Genre: Dimension Travel, Light Angst, Some minor swearing, a lot of the characters who are tagged only show up in like one chapter, as much as it can be given i've only seen saga orb orgins and two episodes of cosmos, i give grigio more abilities, inspired by cosmos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 109,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24860734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingPaperGhost/pseuds/WritingPaperGhost
Summary: “So, that giant sure was something, wouldn’t you agree?”Asahi spins around, finding herself face to face with the man from earlier. What was he still doing here? Why hadn’t he evacuated?“I don’t suppose you know much about it, would you?”Okay, that was a strange thing to ask. “I- I’m not sure what you mean?”The man crossed his arms and shrugged, “You tell me.” He said, then he adjusted his glasses, “I saw you become that giant, in a flash of light. I saw the giant become you in the same manner.”Damn it. “Are you- are you sure?” She knew he was. He seemed very serious.And the man seemed to agree with that, “You know that.” He sighed, “Do you even know anything about what a Gomess can do?”“Gomess?” What on Earth is a Gomess? Was it the Kaiju she just fought?The man arched his eyebrow, “That Kaiju.” He responded, then sighed, “I think I see why you struggled to fight it. You didn’t even know what you were fighting.”Asahi rubs the back of her head, a bit sheepish, “I really didn’t,” She sighed, “That fight was sooo not happy...”
Series: Waiting at the End of the Road is Happiness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017570
Comments: 12
Kudos: 40





	1. In The Beginning No One's a Hero

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of strange things were happening and Asahi thinks she’s handling it pretty well, all things considered.
> 
> Whoops, I started another fic. Anyway, we've never scene Grigio transform, as it turns out. So I improvised. And gave her more abilities. And listen, I know the title of this fic is a bit angsty sounding. As well as some of the chapter titles.
> 
> Tumblr - https://www.tumblr.com/blog/writingpaperghost

It started as a pretty normal day, at least, Asahi had thought so. Nothing particularly interesting had been happening, not anytime recently. Aside from the occasional Kaiju here and there, there hadn’t been any form of big incident or anything. Katsumi had returned home permanently a while ago, now he worked with their dad in the shop, more so than he did before. Isami had graduated and he often worked with their mom on her various projects. And Asahi? Asahi had just finished university a week or so ago. But overall? Things were normal.

**Crash!**

Or at least, as normal as it can be when the three of them are Ultras. She’d been wandering around the city, really just on a walk when she heard the sound. She supposed she could just wait and let Katsumi and Isami deal with the Kaiju that was now stomping around the city. But at the same time, she’d dealt with a few Kaijus before, it’d be easier now with the two of them around than when they were away and she was keeping an eye on Ayaka...

**Thump! Crunch!**

Yeah... She was thinking it might be best to try to at least stall it until her brothers showed up. Yep, that would be the best bet. Quickly, she pulled out her Gyro and her Crystal, ready to transform.

“Color me with your power! Grigio!” The energy swirls around her and expands as she grows and soon she was no longer Asahi Minato. She was Ultrawoman Grigio.

The monster roared, it’s attention immediately on her. That was a bit strange... normally when a monster wondered into the city it didn’t immediately focus on an Ultra... Not to mention, there was something.... something off about this monster. She wasn’t sure what, but there was something.

The monster charges at her and with a yelp she quickly moves out of the way, grabbing it’s arm to try to keep it from ramming into the building behind her. She was already hoping that her brothers would show up soon. Or at least one of them.

The monster spins around quicker than it should have any right to, it’s sights still set of Grigio. Seriously, what was that about? She attempts to punch it, only for it to grab her wrist and tug, knocking her off balance. She stumbles, trying to regain her balance, though that was made particularly hard by the grip the monster still had on her wrist.

Now, normally, with a tug like that, she would have crashed into the building she’d tried to keep the monster from. Normally. Except this time didn’t count as normal. Because in front of her was a strange sort of portal. It didn’t look like one of Zero’s... Nor did it look like the dimensional portals that her mom’s device could make...

And then she was falling through it. She’s not quite sure what happens next but she remembers falling through the portal. Falling and falling and... Next thing she knows, her transformation was canceling and she was flying out of the portal in a ball of light, landing in an alley of a city. Her landing wasn’t very graceful, she more so stumbles than really lands, falling onto her knees and hands.

Looking around, she tried to figure out where she was. She dusts herself off a quietly creeps out of the alleyway, hoping her entrance didn’t draw too much attention. No one seemed to pay any attention to the woman coming out of the alley, that was good. She didn’t recognize this city, not at all. It’s not like it’s a part of Ayaka she didn’t recognize. Where ever that portal sent her... It wasn’t Ayaka, that’s for sure. 

And what about that Kaiju? She hoped that Katsumi and Isami at least made it to keep that monster from doing too much damage... But she couldn’t focus on that right now. She needed to figure out where she was and how to get home.

The city didn’t seem to have anything that particularly stood out to her. It seemed like a normal city... She roamed around, taking in her surroundings. The news was playing on a TV screen nearby, she supposed that might be the best way to gather information.

“ _We haven’t received any more news about the recent monster rampages.”_ The newscaster said, “ _Still, we advise that citizens be ready to evacuate at a moments notice.”_

_“Monster rampages”?_ That was... well not that unheard of, at least not in Ayaka. But, Asahi figured by the sound of it Kaiju attacks weren’t very common here. Still, she watches the TV, hoping for more information about these monster attacks. But the newscaster changed topics, moving on to talk about a changes to a city policy. At least she had a name for the city now. Kurokita.

“It’s shame how quickly they brush over it,” To her left, a voice speaks. Asahi turns and sees a man, clearly the one who spoke. He had brown hair, perhaps died a lighter shade towards the ends, not particularly long. Brown eyes and glasses, a purple and blue striped shirt and a darker and more greenish colored vest. He looked irritated, whether it was by the news station itself, or the news it delivered, she wasn’t sure. 

She does know that he was talking to her, though, so she figured she should say something herself. “What do you mean?”

He looks from the TV to her, “They don’t at all talk about _why_ the Kaijus rampage. Why it’s such a danger.” The irritation is still there, only seeming to grow as he continued, “KPaRS works so hard to try to calm them down or incapacitate them. To keep the damage at a minimum, but the news doesn’t care. Just talks about how Kaijus are rampaging more and more the past couple days, seemingly without reason.”

“That’s... well that’s not... happy...” Asahi comments, not entirely sure what an appropriate response would be. It was a lot to take in, but something just weren’t adding up. “KPaRS...?”

The man looks at her, confusion moving onto his face, “Yeah, that’s one way to put it... And KPaRS? You know, the Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Sqaud? They capture and pacify Kaijus when they rampage?”

Asahi realized that whatever this group was, most everyone knew of them, and her not recognizing the name would have seemed really odd. Quickly she nodded, “Oh yeah! Them! Of course! Sorry, I just got confused.”

The man still looked a bit confused, but took her at her word, or at least it seemed that he did. “Anyway,” He continued, “ _Normally,_ Kaijus only start freaking out and causing a ruckus like that when someone bugs them. But now? It’s just happening randomly. Even if this does die out, who knows if people will still be willing to trust Kaijus. They may no longer be able to live on Earth without possibly being hunted down or something... Or KPaRS may be forced to start using lethal force.”

She thought about what the man said... By the sound of it, around here, Kaijus have pretty much always been around and peaceful... That doesn’t sound right... Unless...

They knew other dimensions existed, so while this wasn’t Asahi’s Earth, maybe it was an Earth that had peaceful Kaijus? Or maybe just another planet with human or a human like species. Either way, it was going to be a lot harder to get home than she originally thought.

Then there was the rampaging Kaijus... Was this something that might need an Ultra? She’d be willing to help however she could - something told her she wasn’t getting home anytime soon - but given her performance just before, she wasn’t sure how much help she’d be. She supposed she’d be willing to try, though.

“Yeah...” Asahi says slowly, “Hurting Kaijus just because is really not happy!”

The man to her side was a bit startled, whether by her volume or her cheer she wasn’t sure. He smiles, looking at her, “I like you,” He said, “You seem lost. Are you new to Kurokita?”

Asahi gave a bit of a nervous laugh, “Yeah... I just got her a little while ago and I’m just a bit lost.”

“Kurokita’s a bit of a maze,” The man nods, “It takes some time to get used to. Are you a tourist or did you just move here?”

Well, that was going to be a hard question to answer. Asahi wasn’t even really sure how long she was going to be around her. If she was on another planet, she’d need to know what direction Earth was in to get home. She had no way of getting home, at least not on her own, if she was in another dimension.

“Uh, well,” She quickly tries to decide the best response, “I’m not sure?”

The man blinked. “’ _You’re not sure’_?”

“Er, uh, well,” _Quick Asahi! Come up with a really happy recovery!_ “I mean, I’m here for a little bit but still trying to decide if I want to move! You know, going to a new place can be really happy!” She had a large smile, hoping that between that and her recovery the man would believe her.

The man seemed like he was about to respond, but before he could, the ground began to shake and Asahi could hear thuds. Her head whips around, searching for the monster that was most certainly making the shaking and sounds. Around them, everyone begins to run as an intercom system annouces an evacuation, while the man beside her frowns.

“Another Kaiju is rampaging again,” He said, adjusting his glasses.

“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” Asahi asks, though its more so the man can get somewhere safe and she can transform.

“I suppose we should,” The man sighs, then begins to leave, walking quickly with the crowd. Asahi dashed back into the alley way she’d landed in earlier. 

She pulls out her Gyro, “Color me with your power! Grigio!” She places her Crystal into the center and soon she’s transforming. Now she stands in the city, carefully between the buildings, careful not to step on any vehicles or anything. Across from her, she sees the monster. 

It was reptilian like, dark colored, maybe black, dark grey, or dark green, with a horn on it’s head and fangs visible coming out of it’s mouth. She was pretty sure she’d seen it before, but it would have been a while. Maybe her brothers had fought it at some point?

It didn’t matter. She needed to focus on the Kaiju, otherwise something bad could happen and that would be not happy! Okay, so she wasn’t going to be trying to stall for time or wait for her brothers to show up this time, so Grigio was going to need to get serious.

She summons her bow, a weapon that she learned how to summon a good year or so after she first transformed into Grigio, and takes aim. She draws her other arm back as an arrow of energy formed in her hand, ready to be propelled by the bow. Just as quickly as she had summoned the bow and arrow she released, “Grigio Scatter Shot!” The arrow goes flying and quickly splits into many arrows, all zooming to her target. The monster roared as the arrows hit their target.

The monster stumbles, but it doesn’t fall down or crash into anything. What does happen, is some sort of plane - jet might be a better descriptor, it more resemble a fighter jet like in a movie - flies by. She can see there are two pilots in it, but more importantly, on the jet’s tail was a logo, with the words “ _Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad”_. So those two and the jet must be apart of that KPaRS the man had mentioned before.

Grigio thought about what the man had said. She really didn’t want to harm this monster, at least not too much, and from what the man had said, neither did this KPaRS. But what how could she calm this Kaiju? She had a move that could restrain the Kaiju, maybe from there she could let KPaRS finish dealing with it?

Unfortunately, she spent a bit too much time thinking about everything, because the monster charges at her, baring it’s fangs. _Oh, no. That’s not happy!_ She doesn’t have time to create a Grigio Barrier, so she just had to brace herself and try to keep it from hurting her too much. It crashes into her and Grigio tries to grab it’s jaw, to keep it shut and keep the monster from biting her. Despite her best efforts, the monsters fangs still dug into her arms and she held back a wince. _Ouch!_

She manages to kick the monster back, causing it to stumble. The jet zips out of the way of the monster, trying to avoid getting rammed into. Grigio readies herself to attack the monster again, but as she moves forward to punch, the monster digs into the ground and disappears, causing her to punch thin air and stumble, her balance thrown off.

Grigio looks around, trying to find where the monster was. Aside from the hole in the ground, it seemed like it disappeared entirely. Well, she figured since it had dug underground, it was probably hiding there. Was it trying to get away? Or was it trying to perform a sneak attack.

There was a rumble from below her feet. She attempted to jump away, but from below her the monster comes burrowing up, grabbing her ankle and trying to bite her again. Grigio yelped, then summoned one of her arrows and jabbed it into the monster, “Grigio Stab!” The monster roars and bites her again but it did let go of her ankle. Grigio stumbles away, managing to shake the monster off.

The jet flies by again and Grigio begins to think that maybe these pilots were tempting fate by constantly flying so close to the monster. The jet is closer to her now, a fortunate thing as the monster roared again and attempts to swat at the jet. Grigio moves in the way, keeping the monster from hitting the jet. Her timer began to beep, which matched how she was feeling at the moment.

She didn’t have much more time. She had to somehow, someway, get the monster to go away. She takes a deep breath and focuses. She feels energy build in her hands and she shapes it into a sort of rope. “Grigio Bind!” She swings her arm and watches as it wraps around the monster, tying it up. She thinks she’s at least stopped it, hopefully enough for someone to take it out of the city.

...Except it didn’t stay tied. The binds broke, somehow much weaker than she had thought they were. The monster growls, but instead of attacking again, it begins to dig into the ground again. Grigio thought about trying to stop it, but the constant beeping of her timer convinced her otherwise. She wasn’t going to be able to defeat this Kaiju right now, she just didn’t have the time. It was gone now, burrowed into the ground.

As the jet flew by where the monster had been moments ago, Grigio waited, making sure that the monster didn’t return. When it didn’t she launched herself off, like she’d seen her brothers do so many times, knowing she needed to find somewhere that no one would see her change. She ends up landing back into the alley way she’d initially transformed in.

Asahi was pretty proud of herself, although she hadn’t been able to defeat the monster - something she was being reminded of from her various bruises on her arms and one she thought was forming on her side - she had managed to keep the damage to the city to the minimum. That was pretty good. Or at least, she thought it was. Still, she kind of wished she’d been able to do more. That monster may have left, but it could still come back.

She manages to make it out of the alley way, thankfully her injuries weren’t visible thanks to her jacket covering the bruises on her arms. Her legs were pretty much fine, so there would be nothing for someone to notice there. Not that there was anyone around to notice, everyone had left this part of the city.

“So, that giant sure was something, wouldn’t you agree?”

Asahi spins around, finding herself face to face with the man from earlier. _What was he still doing here? Why hadn’t he evacuated?_

_“_ I don’t suppose you know much about it, would you?”

Okay, that was a strange thing to ask. “I- I’m not sure what you mean?”

The man crossed his arms and shrugged, “You tell me.” He said, then he adjusted his glasses, “I saw you become that giant, in a flash of light. I saw the giant become you in the same manner.”

_Damn it._ “Are you- are you sure?” She knew he was. He seemed very serious.

And the man seemed to agree with that, “You know that.” He sighed, “Do you even know anything about what a Gomess can do?”

“Gomess?” _What on Earth is a Gomess?_ Was it the Kaiju she just fought?

The man arched his eyebrow, “That Kaiju.” He responded, then sighed, “I think I see why you struggled to fight it. You didn’t even know what you were fighting.”

Asahi rubs the back of her head, a bit sheepish, “I really didn’t,” She sighed, “That fight was sooo not happy...”

“What’s your name?”

“Huh?” Asahi looks up at the man and he repeats his question, patient, though his arms were still crossed. “Oh, uh, Asahi Minato.”

“Right,” The man nodded, “Tomomi Hashimoto. Now that introductions are out of the way, did you actually mean what you said earlier?”

“What I said earlier?”

Tomomi sighed, “When you said something about visiting here.”

Asahi shrugs, wincing slightly from the bruise on her side, “I mean, I didn’t try to end up here, but a portal brought me here.”

“From where?”

“This is Earth, right?” She can’t answer that quite properly until she knows. She wasn’t sure if he’d believe her if it was Earth though.

“...Yes...?” He tilts his head in confusion, “Where else?”

“Sorry, just double checking,” Asahi explains, “I’m from an Earth that’s in another dimension.” She watches Tomomi’s face, to see his reaction.

“Okay,” He said slowly, letting out a breath, “Okay, you said you didn’t mean to end up here?”

_Wow_ , he took that pretty well. Or maybe her words hadn’t fully sunk in? _Maybe_. “Yep!” Is her cheerful response.

“So you coming here has nothing to do with the sudden spike in Kaiju rampages?”

She thought about it for a moment. She didn’t know why that portal appeared, nor did she know if the portal and the Kaiju issues over here had anything in common. Given how much she was telling Tomomi right now, she figured that it wouldn’t hurt to explain that to him. “As far as I know? No. But I don’t know much about the portal that brought me here. Or about your Kaiju rampages, other than they’re very not happy.”

Tomomi looks her over for a moment, before sighing, “Do you even have anywhere to stay?”

“Uh... Well... No...”

“Alright,” He adjusts his glasses, “Here’s the deal. You seem to be willing to help deal with the Kaijus, so how about this? You can stay with me and I’ll help you know about the Kaijus you’re fighting.”

Asahi eyes him, not exactly distrusting, but she didn’t quite understand why he’d be so willing to help her. She had learned that sometimes, you should be careful about people you don’t know, even when it seems like they’re just being nice. Especially if it seems like they’re just being nice. “And what do I have to do?”

He laughs at her suspicion, “Keep dealing with the Kaiju attacks. I’m a journalist, so I guess if you want you can help me get pictures or something. But mostly, I just want to make sure the Kaijus don’t have to be killed.”

She thought about it. He seemed nice enough, and she was an Ultra, so she could surely get herself out of whatever situation might arise. But most importantly, but she needed somewhere to stay, and Tomomi said he could tell her about the Kaijus, which would certainly help her. She wasn’t much of a fighter, really, nor was she particularly good at fighting without someone else with her, so she’d need all the help she could get.

“Alright,” She says, making her decision, “Sounds good to me.”

She was going to be prepared if Gomess shows up again. She wasn’t going to let it hurt people or destroy the city and she wasn’t going to let it run away to come back again.


	2. Just a Tiny Star in a Different Form

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time for the city to see that Ultrawoman Grigio is here to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have chosen to use exclusively song lyrics in naming the chapters for this fic.

“Aren’t those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?” Tomomi had insisted on making breakfast that morning, mumbling something about how Asahi being there giving him a reason to actually make it in the first place. Asahi figured that maybe he was one of those people who didn’t always eat breakfast, or at least not very much.

She looks down at her clothes, which were a little dirty after her fight with that Gomess the day before. Other than that though, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell she was wearing them for a second day. “Well... Yeah.” She responded, “I didn’t exactly plan to come here, so I couldn’t really pack any extra clothes.”

Tomomi didn’t immediately respond, instead finishing up breakfast, his face neutral. After they began to eat was when he spoke again, “I suppose we’ll have to see about getting you a few changes of clothes.” 

“Oh! That’s nice of you, but it’s not super necessary!” Really, he was already being far nicer than most people would be, especially given she’d just kind of shown up.

He raises his eyebrow, “Well,” He said, “You can’t exactly run around wearing he same clothes every day.”

_Ah..._ Well, he does have a point... But still! Still... Okay she really couldn’t come up with much of an argument. At least... not one that she wasn’t positive Tomomi would reason away. Yeah, okay, so he had a point.

Noticing her lack of argument, Tomomi thought for a moment, “Tomorrow,” He decided, “Tomorrow we can get you some new clothes.”

Asahi decided that it wasn’t worth trying to argue otherwise. So she didn’t. Instead she cheerfully responds, “Yeah! Sounds good.”

Once they finished breakfast, Tomomi began gathering his things. Asahi watches him, not really sure what else to do with herself. He had said he was a journalist, so she supposed he probably had some work to do today, or something like that. But he was taking his time, so he must not have been in any real hurry.

“Hey, Tomomi?” She called, to which he responded with something that sounded like a “yeah” but she couldn’t make out exactly what he said. It didn’t matter though, she had his attention. “Can you tell me more about what Gomess can do? In case it shows up again today.”

He stops what he’s doing for a moment and looks at her, before returning to it. He thinks for a moment before answering, “The main things you need to watch out for, as you saw yesterday, is it’s fangs and it’s ability to dig underground.”

“Right!” Asahi nodded, recalling her previous fight with Gomess. It’s fangs weren’t horrible, she could pretty easily deal with that, but the digging might be harder. She couldn’t really find where it was when it did that. Maybe her best bet was to try to keep it from going underground... Yeah, probably.

“What ways does KPaRS have to deal with Kaijus?” They hadn’t really done much the day before, other than fly around. She was worried that they didn’t really have any way to defend against Kaijus.

“KPaRS mainly uses containment procedures.” He tells her, “Unfortunately, something about these rampaging Kaiju seems to prevent a lot of the sedatives from working. Without the sedatives, the nets and such used to remove them from the city are broken pretty easily.”

“So they just fly around and hope for the best?”

“Now,” He hefts his bag onto his shoulder, “It can certainly appear that way. Rumor is they’re developing more... violent means to try to stop the rampages, but for now they don’t seem to have anything special.”

Asahi nods, “Got it, so I might need to keep an eye on them for now. Would want anything to happen.”

“Right...” Tomomi grabs his phone off the table, “Now, I have stuff to do and will be busy until this evening. I’d recommend trying to familiarize yourself with the city, but you do whatever.”

“Okay!” She smiles in response, “See you later!” He waves and leaves, Asahi watching as he went. She was alone now, leaving her with her thoughts... She hoped her family wasn’t worrying too much...

Oh, who was she kidding? They were probably worried sick! She just falls through a portal and is no where to be found! But she didn’t have anyway to get in contact with them... Hell, even if she could, it wasn’t exactly like they had anyway to get to her or her to them. While their mom still had that device that can open portals to another dimension, Asahi wasn’t really sure how effective that would be here. Not that it mattered, they didn’t know she was here.

With a frustrated groan, Asahi stands up, deciding to take Tomomi’s advice. She was going to explore. She’d just have to make sure she didn’t get lost. Yep! That sounds like a great idea! Besides, if a monster shows up, she’ll be able to jump into dealing with it quicker.

Kurokita was like any other city she’d seen, which may not have been a lot, but still. She wasn’t even really sure where she was going, so was kind of just wandering. That was fine, she was mainly just kind of trying to just get a lay of the land, learn the city so she could run around without getting lost.

It was... a nice city, she supposed. There wasn’t exactly a lot to say, there wasn’t something in particular that stood out. Kurokita was, by all means, a normal city. It just happens to be on an Earth that has a Kaijus that just sort of... mind their own business, generally. Apparently.

To the side, like the day before, the news drones on, reporting on the attack yesterday. Asahi pauses to look at it, listening in on to what was being said. The newscaster, same as the day before, spoke “ _The giant appeared to be fighting the monster. We have little information as to why the giant has appeared or where it has came from.”_ They were talking about her. Or rather Grigio, which she needed to stop associating as a different person.

“ _KPaRS has released a statement, which declares that they will continue to try to contain the monsters, and if needed, this giant.”_ Well that wasn’t very friendly. Of course, even back on her Earth, even back in Ayaka, people still had mixed opinions about Rosso, Blu, and Grigio. It was worse when they first showed up, so she figured public opinion might change the longer she’s here.

“Honestly,” There’s a woman to her right, and the woman scoffed. “All anyone wants to talk about now is that _giant_.” Asahi looks at her. She had black hair pulled up into a bun and her skin was a bit darker than you’d normally see, but her physical characteristics weren’t what stood out. It was the clothing she was wearing. Dark red goggles lay around her neck, but more interesting was her jacket, a light grayish blue with orangeish yellow on the sides, high collar, and the end of the sleeves. On the front left was a logo, and that was the interesting part. It said “ _Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad”._ This woman was apart of KPaRS, which might explain her annoyance. That and she clearly wasn’t very fond of Grigio.

“I guess you’re not fond of Gri- of the giant?” The woman spins around, clearly surprised that Asahi had responded. Judging by the look on her face, she might not have even realized that she had said anything at all.

“Well,” The woman began, “You have to admit, it’s kind of suspicious.”

She was expecting a fair amount of responses. She’d heard plenty of opinions about Ultras before, about her brothers and herself. But just saying “ _it’s kind of suspicious_ ”? She hadn’t really heard that before.

“Suspicious?” Asahi echoed, “What do you mean?”

“That giant- it shows up right after these monsters start freaking out? They’re clearly connected.” She sounds pretty annoyed, but beyond that, there was clear suspicion in her voice.

“Maybe the giant showed up to help with the monsters?” Asahi offered, though it was a tad weak. Really, how does one respond to being accused of something like that, except you can’t say it’s you they’re accusing? She sure didn’t know, but she was trying.

The woman pondered that for a brief moment. A very brief moment. “Maybe... Or maybe it’s why the monsters are causing all this chaos.” She’s quiet, before shrugging and saying, “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you.”

“Boredom?”

A shrug is her only response, or at least the only response to that suggestion. Instead, the woman changes the subject, “Ugh, I should be going.” Then much more quietly, almost beneath her breath, “ Can’t have anything happen and I have to run to base because I’m not there...”

Something tells Asahi she should keep KPaRS close, so to speak. She wasn’t sure if it was intuition or something else, but it seemed important. They wanted the same thing, after all. Asahi hated destroying Kaijus, she felt bad enough when her brothers did it. The main solace she could take back home is that the monsters there were usually summoned or created by something or someone else. But here that wasn’t the case.

“Hey!” She calls out, “You work for KPaRS, right?”

The woman raises her eyebrow, crosses her arms and responds, “Yeah, what of it?”

“Oh! Nothing, really!” Asahi waves her arms, “I just really appreciate how you all have been trying to calm the monsters and all. I’m sure a lot of people would find it just... easier to just kill them, or something...”

The woman scoffs, “You’re not wrong...” She stretches her arms, “Probably one of the first to appreciate what we do, though.”

“Ah... well... Hurting Kaijus unnecessarily is _not_ happy!”

“Sounds like you’d fit in at KPaRS,” The woman laughed. She didn’t seem to put too much thought into her comment, at least not right away. “Pretty much everyone there feels the same way.”

“Even you?”

“Even me.” Asahi pondered the response for a bit. While the topic of Grigio may have been a bit sour for this woman, she clearly took her job seriously. 

“You ever thought about joining KPaRS?” The question really just came out of nowhere and took Asahi back a bit. “Always looking for more people. Especially now that it seems things have been... changing.”

Asahi quickly put together what she thought would be a logical response. “I’ve never really thought about it...” Which was the truth. “But I might start.”

“You do that,” The woman said, placing her hand on her hip, “Name’s Jun Kumagai. I work as a pilot for KPaRS. And I’d love to stay and chat more, but I have to get to work.”

“Of course!” Asahi agrees, “It’s nice to meet you!” Jun soon disappeared into the crowd. It was only after she left that Asahi realized that she never introduced herself to Jun.

Well... She’d have to hope they cross passed again. Not to mention that it was an interesting conversation. Just from talking with Jun, Asahi felt like she got a better understanding of KPaRS as a whole, assuming that Jun was telling the truth.

Asahi continues to wander around the city after that. Nothing particularly special happened, the rest of the time she spent wandering was uneventful. After an hour or so of walking, she decided that she wanted to return to Tomomi’s home, tired of wandering around.

**Thump... thud... thump... thud...**

Oh, she recognized that sound, she’s heard it before. That was the sound of something very large walking around. And those quieter little sounds were probably things getting stepped on, cars and such. Which meant there was two options of what was causing those sounds. And since an evacuation is being announced, it was pretty clear what it is.

Looking around, she finds it. Gomess.

Right, time to deal with a Kaiju, and this time, she wasn’t going to get beat up. She was going to stop it, and she was going to prevent as much damage as possible. She would show everyone who doubt her, who doubt Grigio, that she was only here to help.

“Color me with your power, Grigio!”

She hadn’t noticed if it had happened the day before, but this time, at least, when she appeared, Gomess turned it’s attention immediately to her. Like the Kaiju she was fighting before she fell through the portal back in Ayaka. That was strange. Immediately, she summons her bow and launches a few arrows at the monster, wincing internally. She felt a bit bad about it.

Gomess roars and runs at her, baring it’s fangs like the day before. Except this time, Grigio made sure there was much more distance between them, so she could properly block the attack.

“Grigio Barrier!” The monster crashes into the barrier, unable to stop itself. It seemed a bit confused, for a moment, long enough for Grigio to pull an arrow back and launch a Grigio Scatter Shot.

As the monster staggered back, she reviewed her plan. She needed to tire and weaken the monster enough that when she bound it with Grigio Bind, it wouldn’t be able to break free like the day before. Hopefully, KPaRS would be able to take the monster away, or whatever it is they do with rampaging Kaiju.

Unfortunately, Grigio didn’t really have a lot of offensive moves. She was going to have to either get creative, or hope that Gomess didn’t learn how to dodge her arrows. She wasn’t sure how close she wanted to get to it, but at the same time, she needed to keep it from running away again.

She sees KPaRS’ jet fly into the fight, feeling a momentary twinge of annoyance. But she remembered her conversation with Jun earlier. Clearly KPaRS wanted to help, just like her. So she chased away the annoyance and just hoped that they would be fine.

Gomess roars, then begins to swat at the jet whenever it got remotely close. _Shit_. That wouldn’t be good. She’d have to keep it’s attention. So she levels her bow again and draws back, another arrow ready. She fires several arrows and more scatters shots, successfully bringing it’s attention back to her. The fight had reached a minute long and between that and the amount of arrows and scatter shots she’d used, she was starting to feel the drain of the fight.

Grigio couldn’t keep this up. She fired an arrow again, but this time, Gomess dodged. _Crap_. It learned how to dodge her arrows. Okay, she needed to change her strategy. Which meant she was probably going to have to use some hand to hand. Great.

She drops her bow down, letting it disappear from her grasp. She slips into a proper fighting stance and takes a deep breath. The monster begins to ran at her and she herself runs to meet it. It swings at her and she ducks, punching it in the stomach area. “Grigio Punch!”

The monster stumbles backward and she leaps away, trying to keep some distance as it swung it’s tail at her. She grabs at the tail, though it slips from her grasp and the monster swings it arm at her again. Grigio swings a kick at it, followed by another punch.

Gomess’ movements are slower now, so Grigio quickly moves back, putting as much distance between them as possible. As her color timer began to flash and beep, she prepares to finish the fight.

“Grigio Shot!” She crosses her arms into a the shape of a plus sign. From there a beam fires, nailing the monster in the chest, causing it to stumble back. Right, time to tie this up. “Grigio Bind!” This time, when Gomess is bound, it’s unable to break free, ultimately falling to it’s side in it’s struggling.

KPaRS flies by, seeming to examine the monster. Grigio gives them a wave and then jumps away, taking off into the sky to leave. She’d find somewhere to change back and then return to Tomomi’s home. 

\---

When Tomomi gets home, several hours after Grigio’s fight with Gomess, he doesn’t seem horribly surprised to see Asahi. Which, to be fair, even if Gomess hadn’t appeared, she would have came back before him anyways.

“I take it you had an interesting day, huh?”

Asahi laughed, “No kidding!” She’s smiling, though, “I managed to tie him up and everything.”

Tomomi sets his bag down and gives her a smile, “Yeah, I think people will start to like you more... Though that brings the question, what’s your name, like that? When you’re a giant?”

“Oh!” She forgot she’d never told him, “Ultrawoman Grigio!”

“Ultrawoman?” His brow furrows, “Interesting name.”

She shrugs, “I’d give you a reason if I knew it.”

“And the flashing light?”

“Flashing light?”

“The one on Grigio’s- on your chest.” Tomomi clarified, pointing at his own chest.

_Oh,_ “That’s my color timer. It starts flashing red and beeping after three minutes or when I’ve taken too much damage.”

“Why three minutes?”

“I’m not quite sure the reasoning,” Asahi said, “But I think I was told at some point that it had something to do with the Earth’s atmosphere blocking out sunlight or something. Since Ultras are beings of light - or something like that- on some planets we’re limited in how long we can stay in that form...”

“Or something like that?” He finishes, a smile curling on his lips.

She laughs in response, “Or something like that!”

\---

**_A New Force of Good - Ultrawoman Grigio_ **

_By Tomomi Hashimoto_

_At the beginning of the week, the citizens of Kurokita found themselves witnessing an odd increase in violent Kaiju rampages. Two days ago, during one of those rampages, a silver and yellow giant appeared in a form of light. This giant fought the Kaiju, though she was unable to defeat it. Yesterday, that Kaiju returned, and so too did the giant. She fights and she fights until she has weakened it. Once weakened, the giant ties up the monster, allowing for KPaRS to safely move the Kaiju to a preservation for study._

_Many may wonder who this giant is, where she came from, what her motivations are and her goals. All of those cannot be answered currently, though there is little doubt that this is the last we’ll see of her. There is a clear correlation between the monster’s appearance and the giant’s. But it’s not a negative one, clearly this giant seeks to defeat and contain the monsters, much like KPaRS._

_Regardless of where she came from, her goals are clear. She will protect us, during this time where we ourselves are struggling to do so. This leaves but one question. Who is this giant? What shall we call her?_

_Ultrawoman Grigio. And she will be a force of good._

The article caught Asahi’s attention right away. Or rather, the heading of the article. Well, she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised by it, Tomomi is a journalist. Maybe this can help people see she wants to help.

Asahi finishes reading it and smiles.


	3. Even When We're Fallen or When We're Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi's starting to get the hang of this Earth. Starting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am concerned at the speed that I can write these chapters, this is pretty much never good for my motivation. If I suddenly stop writing this for at least a week or so, that's why.

Chapter 3: Even When We’re Fallen or When We’re Hurt

* * *

“Okay!” The sound shattered the peaceful silence in KPaRS’ main headquarters room. Gathered in it were the members of the main crew. The one who spoke was a their captain, Matsuoka. He was the oldest member of the crew and had been there the longest, though he’d deny his age whenever asked. All in good fun, everyone knew. The first thing one might notice if he weren’t in his uniform might be his light brown hair, but as it were now, his uniform is the first thing one would notice. It appeared a bit different than the normal uniform, it didn’t have a high collar, the stripes there went down the front and met the ones at the bottom and sides. It lacked the pockets that a normal uniform on the sides, and on his arm was a sort of band, yellow, red, and blue. He had his hands clasp together in front of him, a smile as he continued. “Now that we’re all here, we can begin our meeting.”

To one side were the two engineers, who’s appearance stood out the most compared to everyone else in the room. The first one, a woman named Chikako, had brown hair, pulled back into low twin pony tails, and she had bright blue eyes, covered by a pair of protective glasses.She wore tan overalls, with a tool belt around her waist, underneath green tank. She wore dark green finger less gloves that came up to about halfway to her elbow. Over her overalls was her uniform vest, which was much light the jacket that others wore, but with only one pocket over her chest.

The other engineer stood beside her, a man named Katsuhito, who looked far more casual in his demeanor. Light brown hair kept back in a low and short ponytail, he wore a uniform much like Chikako’s, though unlike her, he wore only the standard mechanics uniform for KPaRS. Tan overalls and dark shirt underneath with the uniform vest, the only part out of place was the top of his overalls, where the straps hung at his sides.

“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have this meeting when the monsters started acting strange?” Katsuhito asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of her overalls.

Matsuoka smiled, “This meeting is partly about the Kaiju’s strange behavior, or at least what we can do about it, we’re still waiting on research from the conservation.” He looks over the group for a moment, “But let’s worry about that part for now.”

To the other side were the pilots and the singular member of Ground Support. There was Jun and besides Jun was Rin. Rin had reddish brown hair, shorter than Katsuhito’s but still a little long. Much like Jun, they wore KPaRS’ uniform, though they lacked the goggles, which were instead replaced with a green scarf that was loosely wrapped around their neck.

On the other side of Rin was Fuyuko, the single member of Ground Support, who’s duty was to ensure that citizens evacuated when a Kaiju came into the city. Fuyuko had black hair held up in a ponytail and dark skin, upon which one might notice a few scars that came mainly from debris. Her job was something of a dangerous one that put her near buildings that could be damaged or destroyed, after all. The most remarkable part of her uniform was her gloves and the utility belt around her waist, which held first aid materials and the like.

Rin spoke, “Do we have any idea why all the monsters suddenly started attacking like this?”

“Unfortunately,” Matsuoka sighed, slightly, “The researchers at the conservation have yet to be able to determine what has been agitating the Kaiju...”

“Well, we can’t just continue trying to deal with them as we have.” Fuyuko grumbles, “As it’s been, we can barely do anything!”

“Of course, Fuyuko, That brings me to my next point.” Matsuoka paused for a moment, then looks over to Katsuhito and Chikako, “The higher ups have asked that we begin to develop more... effective methods for chasing Kaiju out of the city.”

“More effective?” Chikako asked, barely hiding her skepticism, “We barely know _why_ their doing these things! How are we supposed to make something that works better?! Just make some really strong guns!?”

Matsuoka’s often neutral face faltered, showing a slight degree of what might have been discomfort. He sighs slightly, but a proper response wasn’t necessary. It was easy to tell what he would say, they all had known that it would be a possibility since it became clear that the monster attack weren’t just a string of odd coincidences.

Katsuhito sighed, resignation clear on his face, “We’ll come up with something, won’t we, Chikako?”

“Don’t really have much of a choice, now do we?” She huffed, crossing her arms, her voice dripping in annoyance.

“It’s not ideal,” Matsuoka finally said, “But as far as they are concerned, if we can’t stop these attacks than they’ll just find someone who will. At least if we are the ones designing and using the methods we can at least try to lessen how much harm comes to the Kaijus.”

“Guess so,” Katsuhito sighed once again, rubbing his temple with one of his hands, the other slipping into his overall pockets once more.

“Great!” Their captain brought a smile to his face, though it appeared rather forced, “Now on to our next topic...”

“Which is?” Rin asked.

“The curious giant that has began to appear, so the so called ‘Ultrawoman Grigio’.”

An unusual commotion followed, a reaction that was odd for the group. But this was one of the few cases where people had different opinions. They all agreed that Kaijus shouldn’t just be killed, even if they were rampaging. They all _couldn’t_ agree about what to think of Ultrawoman Grigio.

“I think it’s pretty clear that she’s got something to do with the monsters.” Jun growled, “Obviously, she has to behind them.”

Beside her, Rin looked less sure. “Well, I don’t know about that,” They muttered, “But she does help deal with the Kaiju, and with less violence. It makes our lives a lot easier.”

“Hah!” Katsuhito laughed, “Okay, but Jun’s gotta be right. She’s clearly behind the monsters!”

Chikako shrugs, “I don’t care what’s she’s up to, I’m more curious as to where she came from. She just sort of showed up, after all.”

Fuyuko seemed to hold more of an opinion than Chikako, “In the two attacks since Grigio appeared, there was way less damage and civilian injuries.” She’d know, after all. She was the one of them that was on the ground in the thick of those sort of things.

Then there’s Matsuoka, who watches passively. He doesn’t seemed horribly bugged by the conversation, though he seems to have a smile upon his face. He crosses his arms and continues to watch, ready to intervene in case the discussion escalated into an argument.

Regardless, that Grigio was certainly interesting...

\---

Asahi really never knew what to do with herself. Sometimes, when Tomomi needed help, she took photos for him. But outside of that and dealing with Kaijus - and a Kaiju hasn’t shown up since Gomess and that was about a week before - she didn’t exactly have a lot to do. She’d read some of the books that Tomomi had lying around his apartment, but that was honestly starting to get old.

She explored the city more for a few days, but at this point, she’d explored about as much as she could. A good part of one of the days was spent with Tomomi looking for clothes so she actually had something to wear other than what she arrived in. But she still didn’t know what to do with the rest of her excessive free time.

She couldn’t really try to find a job, since she didn’t actually exist in this universe. So she’s left with little to do throughout the day. If Tomomi was there, she’d be able to talk to him, though there was only so much to talk about. But right now, she was alone in the apartment, with one of Tomomi’s books laying by her side.

She was sooooo bored.

This Earth wasn’t that different from her own, but she was already finding differences. She wasn’t seen a sign of Aizen Tech, which was pretty weird to her, but fine since she seemed to remember that Makoto Aizen was a bit of a kook who caused her brothers a lot of trouble.

But then this Earth had it’s own really important events! She was going through a few a Tomomi’s non fiction books and multiple times she found reference to things called “The Awakening” and “The Terrible Fights” or other similar titles. While she was able to learn from one of the books that The Awakening was a time period where a bunch of slumbering Kaiju awoke, resulting in the world they were in now, where Kaijus were essentially giant animals. She’d have to ask Tomomi about The Terrible Fights, because that sounded _very_ bad.

But none of this solved her current boredom.

She could go to the park! That’s a great idea, Asahi decided. There was a park that wasn’t very far from where Tomomi’s apartment, she’d found it when she exploring a few days before. Yeah, that’s a great idea.

So a few minutes later, Asahi walked around the park, taking in her surroundings. There wasn’t much special about the park, but it was nice and rather peaceful. Or as peaceful as a public park in the middle of the day could be. But someone catches her eye, though she isn’t sure why. There was a man on a bench, his head tilted backwards. His eyes appeared to be closed, though Asahi doubted that he was actually asleep.

Asahi moves over and sits on the other half of the bench. Being closer allowed her to see the vest that he wore, which seemed vaguely familiar. It was like the jacket of the KPaRS pilot, Jun, but as a sort of vest. He must work for KPaRS too, though maybe not in the same way as Jun did.

When she sits down, he opens an eye and looks over at her, an eyebrow arched curiously. “Are you okay?” She asked.

The man moved his head forward, turning it to look at her. He seemed a bit surprised, though he might have been hiding it. “Why do you care?”

Asahi digs her hand into her cardigan pocket, grabbing one of her candies. Those, thankfully, were something that didn’t change between her Earth and this one. She pulls her hand out and opens it, presenting the candy. “Candy?” She offers, “They’re really happy!”

The man looks hesitant, eyeing the candy and then her with suspicion. He raised his hand, slowly and hesitantly, then carefully takes the candy from her hand. He examines the wrapper, sniffs it as if to determine the flavor, than slowly unwraps the candy. She plops it in his mouth.

“Thank you,” He says, careful to make sure his words are understandable.

“You’re welcome!” She beams, “You seemed really preoccupied, so I thought that maybe something was on your mind?”

The man sucked on the candy for a moment, eyeing her. Then he says, “As you can probably tell, I work for KPaRS. Given the past week or so, being a bit stressed is a given.”

“Oh...” Asahi thinks for a moment, “What do you do?”

The man smiles, “I’m an engineer,” He explained, “And given the fact that Kaijius have been rampaging for almost no reason, so I kinda am one of the ones that need to figure out what to use to stop them.”

“Ah, like better nets or something?”

He scoffs, “Better nets. I wish.” He grumbles, “But the higher ups have decided that _no._ Having better pacification and containment measures isn’t enough, we need to use actual freaking weapons.”

He waves his hands about his head, eyes closed as he continues to gripe, “I mean, shit! Let’s not care that these Kaijus are sentient and have feelings and such like humans do!” He adjusts his vest, “Or that it’s our job to try to protect the Kaijus as much as people! That doesn’t matter the second that it starts being an inconvenience to everyone else!”

Asahi winced.

“Oh,” The man saw, “I’m sorry, I get a bit...”

“Passionate?”

He laughs, “Yeah,”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Asahi said, looking towards the sky, “I mean, there’s got to be a way that you could create something more effective than what you’ve been working with, but not super lethal...”

She waves her hands, a clear enthusiasm in her movements, “Because killing Kaijus is a really unhappy thing to do.” She thinks for a moment, returning her gaze to the man, “Maybe something like a stun gun? I dunno...”

The man looks at her and doesn’t respond immediately, then he sighs, “Maybe...” Then he thinks some more. “You might be on to something...”

“Oh...” Asahi hadn’t actually expected that. “Er, well, I don’t know about that...”

“No really! I’ll have to think about it and talk to me coworker... but it could work.” He actually looks pretty excited, all things considered. “Ah, I’m Katsuhito Yoshioka.”

“Nice to meet you!” She smiles in response, “I’m Asahi Minato.”

Katsuhito checked his watch, then stood up quickly. “Shit! I have to go!” He starts to leave, then quickly turns around and adds, “It was great talking to you!”

Well, that was an interesting conversation.

\---

Asahi was back at Tomomi’s apartment talking with Tomomi. Or it was more like Tomomi was talking about his day, because Asahi hadn’t had much happen, other than her conversation with Katsuhito. It was during this talking that the TV, which had been set to the news with the volume low, caught her attention.

There was a Kaiju attack, the screen showing footage. The Kaiju had two large horns, which curled into hooks at the ends and it’s mouth was beak-like. It’s arms and legs appeared to be layered in a manner similar to a pine cone, it’s hands were sort of pincer like. Asahi thought it looked kinda silly.

“Oh, great,” She said, “A Kaiju.”

“An Eletrikzaurus,” Tomomi informs her, “True to it’s name, it can send an electrical current through it’s body, shocking anyone who touches it.”

“That’s fine, I don’t need to touch it to fight it,”

“It’s horns can fire a beam and it’s hands _might_ be able to detach. Not sure on that one though.”

“...” Asahi was silent for a moment, “That’s a little harder to deal with, but I’ll manage.”

She heads towards the door, waving to Tomomi, “Okay, gonna go fight this Kaiju, bye!”

“Good luck!” He calls back. Asahi runs through the hallways, trying to get out of the complex as quick as possible. She needed to get outside to transform, first. When she reaches the street, she pulls out her Gyro.

“Color me with your power, Grigio!”

Like with Gomess, Eletrikzaurus quickly brought it’s attention to her, instead of continuing to focus on the building he was swatting at. Grigio began to review what she knew. Okay, be careful if she touches it, it could shock her. But it could also definitely shoot her with a beam, and maybe detach it’s hands. She could probably dodge the beam, so it would probably be best to keep a distance.

She summons her bow and starts to fire arrows at the monster. Really, that seemed to work pretty well, so she figured she would keep up with that tactic.

\---

Katsuhito watched the screens as they showed Grigio fighting the Kaiju. She was staying far away, shooting it with her arrow. Somehow, she knew enough about the Kaiju to avoid risking to get shocked. Either someone told her... or maybe she knew since she was the one causing them to attack? Somehow, despite his earlier thoughts, right now, watching Grigio, Katsuhito doubted that.

Well, that doesn’t matter right now, he was instead finishing his design. Like the girl, Asahi, had suggested before, it was essentially a taser. It would be able to shoot a power electrical shot. Jun and Rin would have to be careful not to miss, or at least not to hit anything with people or electrical devices in it.

“Oooh,” Chikako coos from over his shoulder, “That looks cool! You think the higher ups will be okay with it?”

“I hope so,”

\---

The fight was going fine, at least for a while. But now! Now Eletrikzaurus has started dodging her arrows, even her Grigio Scatter Shots! Fine! She’d have to change her tactics, though she was still trying to figure out the best way. She might need to get close though, since she only had a few more ways to attack the monster. She’d need to weaken it like she did with Gomess, then she could tie it up.

Wait, what is it doing? Up at it’s horns, something was forming... Where did Tomomi say it could fire beams from? Didn’t he say the...

 _Crap..._ Eletrikzaurus prepared to fire a beam from it’s curved horns. Grigio could try to stop it with a barrier or she could try to dodge it instead. But if she did that, the building behind her would get hit! But she couldn’t tank the hit either, so that seemed to leave only one option.

“Grigio Barrier!” She managed to bring up a barrier just in time to stop the beam. Right, now she had an opening, or at least she hoped she did. She runs forward and tried to punch the monster.

Technically, she did succeed in punching it, really, it did little to try to stop her. What it did do, was electrocute her when she hit it. Grigio stumbles back, clutching her hand, but still tingling a bit all around. _Shit._ She didn’t expect it to be able to electrocute her so quickly.

Maybe she’d done enough damage to use Grigio Shot? Though she wasn’t frankly all that sure... Even though she’d put distance between her and Eletrikzaurus, she saw something coming towards her. She raises her arms to cover her head, and then the monsters hands hit her. But the monster itself was still a ways away. Well, that answered the question of whether it could detach it’s hands or not.

She swats the hands - if they could really be called that - away, sort of punching them while they were in the air. They flew back to the monster, reattaching in it’s wrists. Right. That’s a thing it does.

Alright, maybe she could just finish this fight? Her color timer began to flash and beep, so that seemed to answer her question. She positioned her arms and aimed and Eletrikzaurus. “Grigio Shot!”

The monster stumbles back, then she uses her Grigio Bind, tying it up. She waits a moment to make sure that it didn’t break free. Once she was sure, she smiles to herself and leaves, happy to let KPaRS to handle it from there.

\---

“Okay! Where could that portal possibly lead to?” Katsumi, as the oldest of the Minato siblings, had long since learned how to be calm under pressure. Or at least as calm as he possibly could.

Isami was doing a considerably worse job at appearing calm. Which is to say, he did not appear calm at all. Instead, he paced around the Minato’s living room. “I don’t know. We’ve searched everywhere we could think of... and she’d be able to come home herself! Unless something happened...”

“We’re... we’re not getting anywhere with this, are we?”

Their mom walked in, standing with her arms crossed, “You’re really not.”

“Mom!” Isami yelped, “Have you found anything?”

“Nothing for sure, but I’m sure we’ll find her. And I’m sure she’s fine. She is an Ultra like the two of you.”

“Yeah,” Katsumi notes, “But she’s not as good at fighting. If something happens...”

“We’ll just have to trust she’ll be fine,” Their mother moved over to them, rubbing their backs. “We’ll find her. I’m sure where ever she is, she’s safe.”

\---

“So it turns out Eletrikzaurus can totally detach it’s hands.” Asahi says to Tomomi when she returns to the apartment.

“So it turns out.”


	4. There's a Light, In the Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s always a solution if you work together.

**Kaboom!**

Normally, when one hears an explosion, they are at least a bit concerned. But, in the the workshop of KPaRS engineers, an explosion wasn’t even all that surprising. Even though there was usually only a few people in the room at a time, there were only two that were ever really near anything that might blow up. Everyone else is a bit too afraid to get close when so many things have a slight tendency to explode. 

Which is why no one is surprised when Chikako comes trudging out of the smoke cloud, using her hand to try to fan it away, no one was horribly surprised. Especially because Chikako was the one who got explosions in her face the most. It was the main reason why she wore safety glasses. The other workers just ignored it, a few perhaps moved a little farther away from her.

From the other side of the room came Katsuhito’s concerned call, which was more out of courtesy than actual concern. “You okay?” Then, with what sounded like genuine concern, “That’s the tenth time you’ve exploded something.”

“That’s only a little more than I’ve done before,” Chikako grumbled back, continuing to fan her hand as she moved back towards her station, where the device she had been working on had blown up. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Not in -” Katsuhito glances at the clock on the computer at his work station, “Three and a half hours, it’s not.”

She quickly glances at the clock on her own computer, “It’s only eleven thirty?” She groaned, “Seriously?!”

Katsuhito slides his chair out from his desk, turning to look at her. He puts down his pencil, which had been scratching away at the papers on his desk. “Yeah...” He stands up and walks over to where Chikako stood. She glared at the device that had blown up a few minutes before. “I think you’re a bit... off today.”

She continued to glare, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, “Chi, take your lunch break early. You clearly need it.” Before she could protest, he continued, “Seriously, take a breather. Get out of here and stop worrying about all this for an hour. You’ll feel better.”

“Fine,” Chikako grumbled, crossing her arms, “Not like I’m going to really get anywhere with that thing right now anyway.” She stomps off, heading towards the door to leave the workshop. Katsuhito sighed, watching her leave.

\---

Chikako didn’t exactly need a lot of time to eat lunch, she wasn’t horribly hungry that day, nor did she bring a lunch that was very time consuming to eat. So, with a good forty-five minutes left, she began to wander a bit. Maybe a walk and some fresh air would do her some good.

After wandering around, for a few minutes, she notices something. Or well, someones. A man and a woman, the man was the one that she somewhat recognized though. He was a journalist, she recalled... He’d written a few articles on KPaRS and she’s pretty sure he’s the reporter that always wrote all the articles about the Kaiju Conservation and the research done there. The woman she wasn’t so sure about, but judging by the camera around her neck and how she was taking pictures of whatever the reporter seemed to tell her to, she must have been his assistant or photographer. Something like that.

Now what was that reporter’s name...? She seemed to recall he was also the one who wrote that article on Grigio... Tomo Hashmoko? Tomomo Mashimoto? Tomomi... That was it! Tomomi Hashimoto! The captain always loved to read his articles, so the papers were always laying open to them.

As the two moved around, they eventually came close to Chikako. The man, Tomomi, noticed her, smiling and giving a wave. “Hello there! Enjoying your lunch?”

Chikako sighed and crossed her arms, “Hello, I suppose so.” She looks him over. Beside him, the woman smiled, far too cheerful if you asked Chikako, but then again, Chikako wasn’t in an amazing mood today. Frankly, anyone would seem far too cheerful.

“You don’t sound like it,” The woman notes, reaching her hand into her pocket. She was fishing around for something, until she finally found it, pulling her hand out. Uncurling her fist, she present Chikako with what appeared to be some kind of sweet. “Candy?”

Chikako eyed the candy for a moment, then looks to the woman, who was simply smiling, keeping her hand out. Chikako then shrugs and takes the candy, unwrapping it and tossing it in her mouth. What was there to lose? It’s just some cheerful girl handing her candy.

While this was going on, she noticed that Tomomi had wandered over and was talking with another member of KPaRS. Must be planning to do some kind of article. Not that it really mattered to Chikako.

The woman was examining her, though Chikako pretended not to notice. While it wasn’t odd per say, it wasn’t exactly a normal thing either. Usually when people examine her like that, it’s because she’d just had something blow up in her face. Finally, the woman spoke up, “You work for KPaRS, right?”

“Yeah...” Chikako would have thought it was obvious, given the vest she wore that had the KPaRS logo on it.

“You’re a... mechanic right?” The woman continued, but paused before adding, “Or was it engineer?”

“Engineer,” Chikako answered, “Though I’m surprised you could figure it out.”

The woman thought for a moment, then responded, “Well, you are wearing safety goggles,” Oh right, she’d never taken them off, “But I also met another engineer who works for KPaRs at the park the other day.”

The park? Who even went to the park for their lunch break... Well it might not have been their lunch break, but most people just went home after work. She thought about a bit, thinking back to what she’d heard other people say. Really... the only person she remembered mentioning having gone to the park recently was Katsuhito...

“Wait, did you run into Katsuhito?”

The woman perked up, “Oh yeah! I bet you probably work together!”

“Yeah...”

“Oh! Are you friends? Having friends is very happy!” This person was very... energetic. Chikako hadn’t exactly been thrilled with it... but now she was starting to warm up to it.

“Yeah, I’d say we’re friends,” Chikako found herself grinning when she responded, “Since you’ve got Katsu’s name, why don’t I give you mine? Chikako Kita.”

The woman beamed as she introduced herself, “I’m Asahi Minato!” She then adds, “It seemed like something was bothering you earlier?”

“Ah...” Okay, so maybe Chikako’s sour mood was more obvious than she thought it was. Katsuhito noticing wasn’t that odd, they’d worked together a lot, so he’d learned how to notice things about her. But the fact that Asahi, this complete stranger noticed... Either it was much more obvious than she’d thought or Asahi was very observant to these sort of things.

“Well,” She might as well explain a bit, maybe it will make her feel better, “I’m a mechanic right? So normally, my job is just to make sure the planes and their equipment all work, fix it if it needs to be.”

“That must be pretty important,”

“Yeah. Well now, instead of just doing that, we’ve been told, ‘oh, you’ve got to make new shit to deal with the Kaijus’.” She waves her hands in frustration, “Like what the hell!? That’s not what any of us were really hired to do! No one was prepared for this, no one expected monsters to just start - just start rampaging and-!”

She let’s out a groan of frustration, rubbing her temples. “It’s very stressing, yeah?”

“Oh, I can imagine,” Asahi said, “Having so many people who need you to do your job well so they can do theirs. But also having to do so much work to try to protect people.”

“But!” She quickly added, “I know that you and Katsuhito can do it. My older brother, well, one of them, always wants to solve things through the sciency way and stuff. So he always tries to solve a problem on his own. But I know that if all of you work together, you’ll be able to succeed. Just like if Isanii lets other people help him, they’d be able to succeed.”

Chikako laughs as Asahi finishes, “Yeah, I guess you have a point,” She admits, “If we all work together, it’ll at least make it less stressful.”

“Exactly!”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” Chikako says, then turns to leave, “I need to go, but it was nice talking to you. You stay safe, don’t get caught up in any Kaiju attacks, ‘kay?”

“Ah, good bye!” Asahi waves, “It was nice to meet you! I’ll make sure to keep out of too much trouble!”

\---

When Chikako returned to the engineers’ workshop, she was in a much better mood than what she’d left in. Not that too many people noticed that, since the majority of the staff was on lunch break. Katsuhito noticed, given he had a tendency to take a late lunch break and hadn’t left yet.

“Okay, I know you said you needed a breather, but you’re in a way better mood than before.”

He was studying her, as if to figure out why her mood was so much better. She let him, for a moment, before responding, “I talked to this strange woman, I think you met her in the park the other day?”

“Strange woman...?” He paused to think about it, before excitedly responding, “Oh! The one with the candy?”

This causes Chikako to laugh, “Yeah, that one.”

“Oh, well that explains a lot... That woman... Asami?”

“Asahi.” She supplied, crossing her arms in amusement.

“Asahi, right,” He corrected himself, “She seems to have a great skill at cheering people up.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

\---

Grigio was, once again, fighting a Kaiju. It looked like a shark with a drill attached to it’s nose. Except it had a tail and instead of fins it it had sort of of flipper feet. It seemed a bit familliar, maybe Rosso and Blu had fought it before? Gubila, Tomomi had told her. it obviously could use it’s drill as a weapon, but on top of it, it could jump very high and spray water.

While she was glad that she didn’t commonly use fire, like Rosso, she didn’t exactly have attacks that were the most effective in general. But so far, she was fairing pretty well, or she at least thought she was.

Right now, she was keeping her distance, trying to avoid getting hit by that drill. Honestly, this whole fight had been a pain, and they were maybe only a minute in. Gubila’s drill was very hard to work with, she couldn’t always bring up a barrier, but a lot of time when she dodges it, it rams into a building. She felt horrible about it, but Grigio couldn’t take too many hits, let alone from something like that drill. So while it was horrible, she just didn’t have a lot of other options.

“Grigio Scatter Shot!” She fires her arrow and it splits into many, most of which hit Gubila. As the monster reeled from the attack, KPaRS comes flying by, which may just make the whole fight harder.

“Grigio!” She hears Jun call, though she isn’t sure why. “We’ve got something we’d like to try!”

Well, Grigio had no idea how effective what they’d like to try, but they needed to be able to manage on their own, so letting them try wasn’t anything bad. If it didn’t work, well, she was here to deal with Gubila anyway, she could handle it. She gives them a thumbs up.

The plane flies toward Gubila and it fires a strange shot. It arched its way toward the monster, hitting it. Gubila let’s out a roar as electricity sparks across it’s body. Huh, guess the engineers work fast. The plane flies away, and Grigio sees an opening.

Right, she wasn’t sure how well she could tie it up, but she’d have to give it a try. “Grigio Bind!” It seemed to work, she waited, and waited, and waited. Even after the effects of KPaRS’ shot wore off, Gubila was unable to wiggle free.

Well, that was easier than she expected. Not that she really expected it to be easy. Anyway, time to leave and head back to Tomomi’s apartment.

\---

“Well,” Jun said, “It worked.”

“Yeah,” Katsuhito agrees, “Except it also overloaded itself.”

Chikako looked over his shoulder as he began to tinker with something in the plane, “Well, we’ll just have to fix that, huh?”

He sighs, “It’ll take a bit and some trail and error, but yeah.”

“I’m sure if we work together we’ll be able to figure it out.”

“We’ll have to,” Katsuhito says, “We don’t really have a choice if these attacks keep up.”

“Even with Grigio’s help,” Rin adds, before following Jun out the door of the hangar.

“Even with Grigio’s help...” Chikako echos quietly.


	5. We Will Always Keep on Running Without Hesitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin’s not in the best mood, but this woman at the café seems to be very good at pep talks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit shorter, um, at least I actually have this whole fic plotted out?

“Good morning Rin,” It was eight in the morning and Rin was inexplicably tired. Or well, it might have been inexplicable if it weren’t for the craziness that KPaRS has been experiencing the past three weeks. What with all the Kaijus attacking as they had been, it really was no surprised. While Katsuhito and Chikako were making immense progress on their stun weapon, Rin still found stress. After all, it was Jun and Rin who had to pilot near the Kaijus, and that was beginning to appear to be more and more dangerous.

Not that they had ever not known it was dangerous, that had been a given even when the Kaijus were easier to tame. But now... Well, Rin may have been the newest member of this crew in KPaRS, but that wasn’t exactly saying much, since members didn’t switch out too often. They’ve been working as a pilot for a few years now, but in the past three weeks, the amount Kaiju attacks they’d been apart of had nearly tripled.

So yeah, Rin was many things, mainly tired and stressed.

Which is why when they were greeted by Jun that morning, the best response they could manage was, “Hey,” Which was still a better response than what they were feeling.

They sit down at their desk and is immediately greeted by Jun on the other side. How Jun moved so fast was beyond them. Or, had Jun already been there and that was where she greeted them from? Rin hadn’t really been paying attention.

“You seem a bit out of it today,” Jun notes, concern laced in her voice.

Rin is waiting for their computer to turn on. They had a report to write up from a incident with a Kaiju last night. They’d been able to manage it without Grigio, as it turned out it was more in the vein of monster attacks previously. Some people poked and prodded where they really shouldn’t have and ended up pissing off a Kaiju. “Tired.”

“We weren’t up that late dealing with the Kaiju last night,”

How should Rin respond to that? They were pretty good friends with Jun, so it wasn’t like they would necessarily be uncomfortable telling Jun... It’s just... Rin’s not exactly the type to spill their heart, and certainly not to someone they actually _know._ Somehow, the concept of talking to a stranger seemed far more appealing.

So Rin decided to choose, not exactly the truth, but not exactly a lie. “Just couldn’t really sleep last night,” Which wasn’t a lie. They had a lot of trouble sleeping the night before, just it was mainly because of stress. Constantly wondering what could happen.

“Right...” Jun didn’t sound entirely like she believed them, which wasn’t horribly surprising. Knowing Rin as long as she had, Jun wouldn’t buy things like that so easily. But she didn’t push, not that she’d have probably gotten very much even if she did. 

“Well if there’s anything else,” Jun adds, “You know that you can tell me.”

Rin looks up from their computer, “Yes,” They sighed, “I know.” And they really, really, should tell her. Might help make them less stressed. But they don’t. They don’t often do, but now was a time more than ever that they really should. Well, knowing’s half the battle, right?

\---

By the time that lunch roles around, Rin- Rin isn’t more stressed, but they’re not really any less stressed. Work and reports can only do so much to distract a person, after all. But you know what? Rin was always the most relaxed when food was involved. So even though they’ve already eaten, they’ve got a good half hour left of their lunch break. So they decided to head over to a cafe really close to KPaRS’ base.

“Oh! Do you mind if I sit here?”

Which is how they found themselves as they are now. They had been sitting at a table, thinking as they sipped their tea, when this cheerful woman walks up wanting to sit across from them. It wasn’t like there wasn’t at least one or two actually open tables. For some reason, she just really wants to sit here. Rin’s never seen her before, so they really can’t think of a reason why.

But Rin needs to give the woman a response, so they sigh through their nose and then gives an answer, “Sure.”

The girl cheerfully takes the seat across from Rin and not too long after the waitress brought the woman’s drink. it was some absurd drink that was some kind of soda and juice mixture topped with whipped cream and several different fruits. Seemed a bit excessive and strange, but somehow, Rin wasn’t surprised.

“Do you always choose to sit at a table with a stranger?” Rin asked, taking a drink of their tea before returning to eyeing the woman, “Or am I special?”

“Huh?” The woman seemed to be taken aback by their question. It seemed she was surprised, though Rin was unsure as to what exactly was so surprising about the question. “What- why do you ask?”

They raise their eyebrow in response, “Well, most people don’t just choose to sit with strangers, and certainly not when they have the choice to sit elsewhere.”

“Oh,” The woman apparently hadn’t thought of that. Or maybe she was the outlier who would sit next to a stranger even if they had a choice not to. “Well, you seem interest!”

“I seem interesting?”

“Ah, well, I like to talk with people who work for KPaRS, you’re all so interesting!” The woman explained, then takes a drink, somehow, of her drink. “Besides, it looks like something’s bugging you.”

Okay, Rin knows their not that easy to read. That is very strange. Then again, something told Rin that this woman was very strange, though that was mainly a gut feeling.

“We’ll I don’t really see why you’re all that worried about it.”

“I’m just saying, being stressed isn’t good!” The woman smiles at them, and there was an unusual amount of caring in her voice. “Is it because of all the sudden Kaiju rampages?”

It wasn’t horribly surprising that the woman could figure out that the Kaijus had something to do with Rin’s stress. Anyone could figure that this was certainly a trying time for pretty much anyone working for KPaRS. So yeah, the woman asking that wasn’t all that strange.

Rin supposed that it wouldn’t hurt to talk a little about it, though. It wasn’t like they knew this woman, after all. “Of course,” They begin, “I’m a pilot, so it honestly feels like if I mess up, things will go really badly. Maybe they will. I don’t know. It’s just very... stressful.”

“I can imagine,” The woman says, talking another drink. When had she drank half of that monstrosity? “But you’ll keep going, right?”

“I guess,” Honestly, Rin wasn’t sure if that was even possible anymore. They knew that everyone was doing there best, but it just never really seemed to be enough. “But I’m not really sure if there’s even a point anymore.”

The woman seemed shocked at that omission. Rin supposed that was fair. She paused for a moment, thinking, before totally switching topics. “Why did you decide to work for KPaRS?”

“What?”

“Why choose to do the job you have?” The woman was cheerful again, but in an odd and almost nonchalant way. Not a lot of things this woman did, the emotions she showed, made as much sense to Rin as they really should.

But Rin thinks about it, rather carefully, before responding, “I guess I joined because… On the off chance a Kaiju rampaged, or off chance until now, I wanted to be able to help.”

“And now?”

They realized that this was... an important choice. Someway, somehow, however they responded would change something. What, they weren’t sure, but it was something of a gut feeling. “I still do,” They decided, “I still want to help people, but everything that’s happened... It’s all so sudden.”

The woman seemed to be much happier with that response, smiling as she responded, “Well, the sudden change is not very happy, but I know you and your teammate will do your best.” The fact that this total stranger had so much confidence in Rin was... oddly reassuring. They couldn’t explain why.

“I’m Asahi Minato, by the way,” The woman, Asahi, introduced. “I’d offer you candy, but I ate the last one.”

“I’m Rin Nakano, it’s been... nice talking with you.” They continue to talk a bit more, but Rin has to leave, and Asahi seemed to be finishing up her crazy drink. Still, Rin isn’t sure that this was a conversation they were going to forget anytime soon.

\---

It was some odd hours later when Rin find themselves alongside Jun, rushing to their plane. There was a Kaiju attack, a shark like monster, Samekijura. As they flew towards the Kaiju, the two got a better look. Samekijura looked mostly like a fish or shark, it’s main feature being the blade like appendage on it’s nose.

It had appeared on a beach, and Grigio was already there, shifting on her feet in a fighting stance. While Grigio, bow in hand, was fighting the monster, Jun was trying to steer them closer.

“Gah!” Jun groaned, quickly maneuvering away from a slash from Samekijura’s blade. “Is this even worth the trouble?”

“What?” Rin hadn’t expected anything like that from Jun. Jun was always the one who was all for giving it their all. A sort of determination that Rin had always admired. But that wasn’t present now, oddly.

“I mean, we don’t even know if we’ll really be able to stun it,” Jun continues, “And besides, last time the thing fried itself after we shot it.”

Rin... Well earlier Rin would have agreed, said it was a waste of time, but after their conversation earlier... it rang in their mind, in an odd sort of way.

_Why did you decide to work for KPaRS? Why choose the job you have?_

_Because.... I wanted to be able to help..._

_... I know you and your teammate will do your best._

They couldn’t just... not try. No, they owed it to everyone, to the Kaiju, to Grigio, to their teammates, to the citizens. They had to try. And Rin... Rin didn’t want to just give up. To just take the easy way out.

“We have to try,” They say, surprised by the sturdiness of their own voice.

“What?”

“Whether the gun works or not, we won’t know until we try. If it breaks, better to know now than if we absolutely need it.” Rin had never thought that they’d be the one speaking like this, because they had always been the rookie. The one who got advice from everyone else. But now... It was up to Rin to give the wisdom, it seemed, “We have to give it our all, for everyone’s sake. Even with Grigio around, we can’t rely on her.”

Jun seemed to agree, now, because she flies them closer, “You’ve got a point. Especially because I still think Grigio’s got something to do with the Kaiju.”

Rin let’s out a playful groan as the two of them aim the gun, “You’re seriously still going on about that?”

With a fire of the gun, which quickly stunned Samekijura. As Grigio went to bind the monster, Jun smiled and cheerfully replied, “I will stand my ground until we get proper evidence otherwise.”

Grigio had the Kaiju tied up now. The two pilots got in contact to get someone to take Samekijura away. Once they started to leave, Rin muttered under their breath, “Might take a while to get anything you’ll consider proper evidence.


	6. If I Had to Give My World to Save a Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi meets another member of KPaRS and there’s another monster attack. Back in Ayaka, there’s a bit of an unexpected, though not unwelcome visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am just getting so tired of writing fight scenes... Why did I explicitly add "And then a Kaiju shows up" in my notes for so many of these chapters?

Fuyuko’s job was pretty hazardous, all things considered. Sure, she might not have always been right next to the Kaijus when they attack the city, but she was still in plenty of danger. Especially when the Kaijus are more... destructive. Which has been a hallmark of the recent Kaiju attacks. Destructive to a ridiculous degree, even with Grigio’s interference. Which meant that there was a lot more to watch out for on the ground. Not to mention more chances for people to get hurt while evacuating. And with the attacks becoming more and more frequent, Fuyuko was honestly getting a bit tired. She wasn’t exactly used to Kaiju attacks being this common.

This also meant her free time had been diminished somewhat, though she didn’t mind. She still, generally, had time that wasn’t spent busy, even if she might have been at KPaRS’ base at the time. Honestly, a lot of them started spending more time there, simply so they could respond faster. For Fuyuko, it didn’t usually matter, she could just keep her gear handy and be ready to go in about the same amount of time.

Anyway, that free time she had was spent with a bit of an... unusual hobby. She was the sort of person who liked to look into mysterious or inexplicable happenings and try to find answers. This does lead to some... unusual theories, but there never ended up being enough evidence to dispute her theories... Even if Jun and Rin won’t let her live down the Santa Claus being an Alien theory...

But anyway! Right now, her current obsession is Grigio. There’s so much about her that’s unknown. Hell, there wouldn’t even be a name for her if not for the first news article about her. Though there was no way to know how accurate it was, it seemed she’d respond to it. Which would only then raise further questions, such as how the journalist who wrote that article knew to call her Ultrawoman Grigio. Unless that isn’t her name and she only responds to it because she read the article and knew that said name was all the humans knew to call her...

It was pretty obvious why Fuyuko was so interested in Grigio. And all that was just the tip of the iceberg. But she wasn’t exactly sure if there would be a way to learn the answer to those questions, so instead of worry too much about that, she focused on what she could currently get information on. The opinions about Grigio. She’d heard how most of KPaRS felt - or at least the people who would actually talk to her when they could tell she was researching for a theory. 

So now, as she readied to head home for the day, provided nothing happened between here and home, she decided that when she stopped at the store to pick up groceries, she’d ask people how they felt about Grigio. Fuyuko figured that most people would probably like Grigio, or at least like that she’s trying to keep them safe. Of course, regardless of Grigio’s actions, there would probably be plenty of people who still didn’t like her.

\---

So far, as far as Asahi was concerned, today was a pretty happy day. It was already approaching evening, and so far, nothing had really happened, which was honestly pretty good. No Kaiju rampaging and trying to destroy any part of the city and really, it’d been calm for a most of the week. That also meant that Asahi hadn’t exactly had a lot to do - not that she was complaining!

So when Tomomi made a comment about needing to pick up groceries - though he’d said he’d just do it tomorrow - Asahi had quickly volunteered. So here she was, list in hand reflexively reaching on the tips of her toes to reach a box on the top shelf. She probably didn’t need to be on the tips of her toes - probably - but she wasn’t taking any chances.

Really, as mundane, and almost boring, grocery shopping was, it was honestly kind of nice. Mostly because it allowed her to pretend she was back home, in Ayaka, on her Earth. Not in some strange city like Kurokita, on an entirely different Earth than hers. Because honestly? She was feeling a bit... Well a bit homesick, she supposed.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t be away from home, she’s spent plenty of time away, but even then, she could call or text her family, so they weren’t really all that far away. But here, she couldn’t. And she’d tried at first, because she knew that just as much as she missed them, they were worried about her. But as far as she could tell, her text and calls could make it through. Sure, she could use them around here, she could call Tomomi, the only number she had that was from this Earth, but all the other numbers weren’t and they just didn’t work.

But that was fine. That was okay. She would be fine. She.... she may not always feel happy here, but that was fine. Because there were still plenty of things to be happy about! Just the other day she saw this little girl and boy who were playing, and girl was pretending to be Grigio - something that made Asahi feel just a little bit proud - and the boy was pretending to be a Kaiju. But in the middle of there little play fight, the girl stopped and hugged the boy, saying about how Grigio never destroys the monsters and she’d totally make friends with them given the chance. Or something like that. And that, that made Asahi happy.

 _Ugh!_ Asahi volunteered to go shopping so she would be distracted, not think harder! Honestly, she may not be able to completely avoid those things, but she’d take any distraction she could get.

“Hello!” Asahi spins around to see a woman, who according to her jacket worked for KPaRS, who had spoken and now stood with a cheery smile on her face, but it was the sort of smile you more often saw on cashiers and such. The customer service smile.

“Hello,” Asahi returned, though she was still curious. Why did this woman approach her? Also, why does she keep seeming to run into members of KPaRS? Sure, approaching them was often her choice, but not always.

“I’d like to ask you a quick question,” The woman paused, waiting for some kind of interjection to tell her no and then continued when she got no such response. “How do you feel about Ultrawoman Grigio?”

Asahi felt herself tense slightly at the question, before realizing that this woman had no way to know _she_ was Grigio. On top of that, the woman had only asked how she felt about Grigio, so it wasn’t like anything that the woman had said so far really insinuated anything. Asahi was fine, she just needed to act natural and give an opinion. That would be easy.

“Oh, uh, well,” You know what? It _should_ be easy, but Asahi was finding it honestly a bit hard. Or well, she was still trying to find the words, she supposed. “I mean, Grigio seems to be able to help stop the Kaijus, so that’s good, right? And that probably leads to at least a bit less in damages... So I guess she’s good, I guess?”

The woman hummed in acknowledgement, “I see, well, you’re not the only one to share that view. Or to have clearly not thought that hard about it.” When Asahi gives her a confused look, the woman elaborates, “I’ve been asking around about everyone’s opinion on Grigio.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Asahi nods, “Hm... Then what about you?”

“What?”

“How do you feel about Grigio? You work for KPaRS after all.”

The woman pauses and thinks, before responding, “Well, I think having her around is good. Because of her, the monsters can rampage less and cause less destruction. That also means less people get hurt... So I guess I like her, all things considered.” She closes her eyes for a moment before adding, “Though I wish we knew more about her.”

“Really?” Asahi was honestly a bit surprised, she hadn’t really expected anyone to be all that curious about her. Briefly, in the back of her head, she wondered if people back in Ayaka were also curious. “I wouldn’t expect anyone to be too curious about her...”

The woman laughs, “We know next to nothing about her. Hell, how do we even know that Utlrawoman Grigio is actually her name? It just popped up in a newspaper article. She just appears - effectively in a flash of light - deals with the monster and then either disappears the same way or takes off to who knows where.” The woman takes a moment to fiddle with the ends of her hair, “Honestly, I wish she’d stick around so we could talk to her, or something.”

Honestly, Asahi would love to do that, but unless they learn who that Asahi and Grigio are the saem person, there just is never the time for that. Grigio really can’t be around for more than literally minutes at a time.

“Huh... I guess you’ve got a point.”

The woman ends up leaving to question more customers of the store, while Asahi finishes pulling groceries from the shelves. She overhears one of the customers greet the woman, then having to ask for her name. “Fuyuko Uchiyama”. Well, Asahi supposed she had name for the curious woman. She finished up and checked out, barely making it more than a few feet out the door before the ground shook.

Well, she knew what was causing that, and it sure wasn’t an earthquake.

Behind her, she heard Fuyuko start ushering people away, but there wasn’t a lot of time to worry about that. She dashes the opposite direction that everyone was running in, finding somewhere no one was around. Hopefully, the groceries would be safe.

“Color me with your power, Grigio!”

Okay, now let’s see, what do we have? The Kaiju stomping around was a sort of tan color, with a small head and what looked like fangs... Honestly, the way it’s scales were, it reminded Grigio of corn on the cob.

Well, she didn’t have Tomomi to identify it for her, but hopefully, she would be find. Judging by the way it was stomping around and almost seeming to be causing a mess just for the sake of it, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be too much of a threat.... But you could never be too careful.

The monster’s noticed her now, but unlike some of the previous ones, it didn’t exactly lock on to her, so to speak. It saw her, shook itself a bit, then roared. It moved towards her and swung it’s tail. It was still pretty far away, so Grigio wasn’t really sure how it intended to hit her - but as it turns out, it’s tail was a lot longer than it looked.

She realized this after it was already coming towards her, so a barrier was out of the question. Well, when all else fails, at least try to dodge. Now really, if only someone had taught her effective ways to dodge that wasn’t launching you body to the side. Which is precisely what she did, managing to get out of the way and squeezing between a couple buildings. Currently, she’s not in the most ideal spot, but at least she dodge the attack.

The Kaiju roared, then began to hit a building. What was it doing? Grigio moves slightly, so she’s not quite as squished between buildings, summoning her bow. Okay, it was sort of distracted, so she could get a few hits onto it. This Kaiju was different than most of the ones that attacked, but as she’s found out, even the much less volatile Kaijus could still easily break a Grigio Bind if they weren’t at least a bit weakened.

She shoots some arrows at it, which only succeeds in stalling it, but she still wasn’t sure what it was doing. It didn’t really stop trying to destroy that building and - shit. The monster had broken a chunk of building off and was grabbing it. What was it doing with that? Then it adjusts it’s hold on the chunk and -and it chucks it.

Throwing something like that, it wasn’t like it’s trajectory was going to be very straight, or fast. It was a very large chunk of building, after all. So really, the throw was more of a lob, giving Grigio plenty of time to move out of the way. The chunk landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get time to rest or do much because the monster was already throwing another chunk of building at her. She had to keep moving, but that wasn’t going to give her time to attack it from afar... Alright then, she’d just have to attack it up close, which meant she needed to get near it. As she dodged the chunks of building, she managed to get closer to the monster, though rather slowly.

Finally, she got close enough to throw a punch at the monster, resulting in it dropping the chunk of building it was holding, which landed squarely on one of it’s feet. Internally, Grigio apologized, because that _had_ to hurt - never mind the fact she was technically fighting it.

Despite that, she was still close to the Kaiju, so she wasn’t horribly surprised when it swung it’s arm at her, she just wasn’t horribly prepared. She managed to sort of catch it’s arm, so it hit her with less force. She gave it a kick, which moved it away slightly, though she still attempted to move further away. She really wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to fight the monster if she stayed so close. It had more ways to hurt her the closer it was and she didn’t have a lot of experience with close combat, and most of her offensive skills were better suited for long range.

Before she could move much farther away, the Kaiju opened it’s mouth and sort of lunged at her, clearly trying to bite her. She throws her arms up, wincing when she felt the monster’s fangs. _Ouch._

She kicks the monster again, this time as hard as she can. It’s enough to get it off her, but it doesn’t end up very far away. There were a few tens of feet between them, but at this size that wasn’t really all that much. Not knowing what else to do, Grigio summons a barrier, using that as a way to help keep the space between them as she tries to back up. She manages to get enough space to shoot more arrows at the monster, but before long, she could hear her color timer.

Well, she was pretty sure she’d done enough to wear this monster down, so hopefully it’d stay bound. It wasn’t exactly like there were a ton of other options, anyway.

“Grigio Bind!” As the monster was roped up, she prayed that it would stay. She let out a sigh of relief when it seemed the monster wouldn’t be able to break free. Grigio.... was always worried that one of these days she’d be out of time and her bindings wouldn’t be able to hold... But so far, it seemed to be fine, so she’d just keep doing what she could to make sure the Kaijus weren’t able to break out.

\---

Even though Asahi was gone, it wasn’t like the Katsumi and Isami could focus solely on finding her. Unfortunately, Kaijus had started appear a lot, way more than they had in years. This meant that the two had to transform and deal with them. While it wasn’t usually too hard, there was two of them and they both had plenty of practice at this point, it was still odd.

Their mom and Isami thought it had something to do with Asahi’s disappearance. The Kaiju attacks started then, so it wasn’t a long shot to think that. Still, that didn’t give them a lot of answers. They had no clue who was behind all of this.

Which brought them to now. There was a Kaiju attack, but by the time they ran outside and transformed, they realized that someone had beat them there. They recognized him, though they hadn’t really seen him much before, though Asahi had. Sort of. Fighting the Kaiju was none other than Ultraman Zero, who they never had exactly seen a lot of. Which brought the question, why was he there?Zero had the Kaiju dealt with before they could even fully finish processing his presence. 

“What are you doing here?” It was Rosso who asked, crossing his arms.

Zero turned around and gave them, not really a wave by most standards, but what they’d long accepted was a Zero Wave. “Oh, Rosso, Blu, didn’t realize you’d be here.”

Blu’s eye roll might have well as been audible, “We live here.”

“Oh,” Zero tilts his head then looks around, “I didn’t realize this was Ayaka... I was just passing through when I noticed a Kaiju.”

“Right...” Rosso sighed, “Well thanks, anyway. Let’s us focus on more important things.”

“What could be more important than protecting the city?”

“Finding our sister, for example,” Rosso sighed, and frankly, while everyone was worried about all the Kaiju attacks, they were all twice as worried about Asahi. They had no idea where she was or even if she was okay or not.

“You wouldn’t have happened to see her somewhere, have you?” Blu asked, he didn’t sound desperate exactly, but there was some clear worry in his voice.

“You sister? Oh, Grigio... Uh, no, I haven’t.” Zero gives them a look, “Why? Can’t you just like, call her or something?”

“We’ve tried that,” Rosso sounded annoyed, “But the calls don’t go through. She fell through some sort of portal a few weeks ago and now we have no idea where she is.”

“We think she might have ended up in another universe or something, since as far as we can tell she’s nowhere she can very easily return from.” Blu added, “Plus, Mom picked up some readings that would match.”

Rosso looks around, remembering that the three of them are currently in the middle of the city. “We should probably move, standing like this in the middle of the city can’t be a good idea.”

“Oh, well, I think I should be going-” Zero attempted to leave, but Rosso quickly cut him off.

“Actually, do you think you could lend us a hand?”

Zero seemed to think for a moment before responding, “Well, I guess I don’t have anywhere else to be...” He trailed off before finishing, “I guess I could stick around and help for a while.”

“Great!” Blu cheered and he and Rosso returned to Isami and Katsumi. During which, Zero seemed to realized something before sighing. When he transformed, he landed next to the two brothers, landing a bit uneasily.

“Are you that not used to being human?” Katsumi asks, looking a bit unimpressed. Really he had other things to worry about, which probably contributed to his lack of enthusiasm.

“I don’t normally take on a human form myself.” Zero trailed off, shaking his hand slightly.

“Then what do you normally do?” Isami asked.

“Normally I just find someone to act as a host,” Zero explained, “But there’s really no point right now...”

Katsumi gave him an odd look, “Right...” Then he turns around and begins to leave, Isami right behind him. “Let’s head home, then we can continue to explain what happened there.”

Zero followed after, slowly coming to a sort of realization of everything that has been dumped on him in the past couple minutes. Grigio, the cheery Ultra he’d met before, was possibly in another world. Sure, she could take care of herself just fine, but he could understand why they were so worried.

He just wasn’t sure how much help he’d be. Finding people had never exactly been his strong suit, and he was pretty sure the Minatos didn’t have a lot to go off of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, Zero thinks he's gonna not get dragged into looking for Asahi? Yeah right. I'm pretty sure the Minatos are just going to adopt him, but give them time.


	7. You Don't Need a Shooting Star, the Magic's Right There in Your Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi meets an old friend of Tomomi and the three of them talk about a lot of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last of the introductory chapters, so to speak. We've been introduced to all of the important characters, and so has Asahi.

Tomomi ended up working sort of odd hours, so he and Asahi mostly saw each other in the mornings and the evenings. Asahi spent a lot of time during the day running around the city. She wasn’t really the type to stay inside all day, but that had really increased the longer she was in Kurokita. Sometimes, she tagged along with Tomomi, but that was only every once in a while. Still, today, Tomomi had a bit of time today, during lunch, so he ended up dragging her to a cafe.

Asahi had been to this cafe before, it was the one by KPaRS base. It was... well a bit of an odd choice. It was a bit out of the way, Asahi had only stopped there before because she’d been walking in the area. Regardless, Tomomi was the only person she actually talked to regularly, she was a bit... wary about people around the city, so she was fine with spending some more time with him. Honestly, he was kinda like a cool uncle or something. At the very least, he didn’t constantly worry about her whenever she fought a Kaiju, which was kinda nice. Her family worried a bit too much.

They were sitting at a table, a bit before the lunch rush. Tomomi had a cup of what coffee, though Asahi was pretty sure it barely qualified as such, given about half of the coffee was actually just creamer. Alongside that was a salad, which he would passively (aggressively) stab with his fork. Asahi had her, according to Tomomi, “ridiculous sugary abomination” that she’d had before. In front of her was a bowl of soup and a cookie. Despite what Tomomi said, Asahi thought this counted as a perfectly good lunch.

They talked about this and that for a bit, in between bites of food and such. Then, Tomomi, who was facing towards the the main part of the cafe, smiles and waves at someone. Asahi turns her head to see who he was waving at. She watches as a man, the one who Tomomi had waved at, walked over.

“Tomomi,” The man greeted with a smile, a pastry in one hand, what appeared to be a smoothie in the other. He had a KPaRS jacket on, though Asahi noted it was different than the other ones she’d seen. “I’m surprised to see you here,”

Tomomi gave him a smile in response, “Yeah, but I had some time and thought I’d drag Asahi out here.”

The man looks over at Asahi, then looks back to Tomomi, “Hm... Is she you’re younger cousin? I believe you mentioned one of uncles had a daughter about her age.”

Asahi wasn’t sure how to feel about that comment. Tomomi, on the other hand, judging by his face at least, was surprised at the comment. Either he was surprised that the man remember him having a younger cousin, or surprised that she got mistaken for said younger cousin. Asahi wasn’t exactly sure.

“Uh, Kaoru,” Tomomi said, “She’s not related to me. She’s just, uh, staying with me since, she’s a, a family friend.” It would be hard to say that his statement was at all believable. With all the “uh”s and such, Asahi would be surprised if the man believed it.

“Hm... I see, sorry about that.”

Tomomi quickly gestures to one of the extra chairs at the table, “You should sit with us, we haven’t talked much in a while.”

“I can’t intrude on the two of you,” He seemed hesitant, but Tomomi kept insisting, so soon he was sitting with them, placing his smoothie down.

“Oh!” She hasn’t introduced herself yet, “I’m Asahi Minato by the way!”

“Kaoru Matsuoka,” The response is returned with a smile.

There’s a lull in conversation for a moment before Tomomi takes a drink of coffee, prompting Matsuoka to make a comment. “You still drink that with half creamer?”

Tomomi looked at him with mock offense, “I’ll have you know,” he said, “That it is otherwise too bitter. Besides, why are you giving me flack, look at Asahi’s drink. It’s nearly entirely sugar!”

While Matsuoka looks at her drink, Asahi gives Tomomi a look, “What are you talking about?” She asked, “This is perfectly fine. Besides, it’s got fruits, so it’s healthiness balances out.”

“I... don’t think that’s how that works,” Matsuoka commented, “Though I am curious as to how you manage to drink such a thing.”

“Honestly,” Tomomi adds, “I think, what with all the sugar she consumes on a daily basis, she just uses all the sugar to keep herself cheerful.”

“What? That’s not-” Despite her best efforts, Tomomi was giving her an amused smile and Matsuoka did the same, though a bit less noticeably. “Geez, you’re as bad as my brothers!”

“Do you brothers tease you about the amount of sugar you eat too?” Tomomi asked, somewhat teasing though still genuinely curious.

Asahi huffs, “Katsunii always says how I shouldn’t eat so much sugar and Isanii just keeps teasing me about it.” As if to spite her brothers, even from another universe, she takes a long and slow drink. Matsuoka let’s out a mostly hidden chuckle while Tomomi doesn’t even bother trying to hide his amusement.

“Well,” Matsuoka began, “It sound like they care about you.”

Asahi’s annoyance ends at that point, replaced with something else. She gives a small smile, “Yeah, they do.” Her smiles grows when she thinks about not just her brothers but her parents too, “They’re great. Even if they might worry a bit too much for my taste. I always know they care.”

“Having family who cares about you is good,” Tomomi states, “You... You miss them, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” She laughs, “I guess I’m not used to being this far from them and not texting them like twenty times a day.”

Matsuoka hums, taking a drink of his smoothie, “I have to ask you, Tomomi, what sparked that article you wrote? About Ultrawoman Grigio.”

Tomomi quickly and gently (violently) stabbed a piece of lettuce and shoved it in his mouth, if only to buy himself more time before he had to respond. Asahi knew the answer to the question, but it was a bit trickier to answer without outing Asahi as Grigio. As it turned out, most of the people that Tomomi worked with were used to all his slightly unusual Kaiju articles and apparently hadn’t given the one on Grigio too much more than a second glance.

“Well,” Tomomi began, slow enough that he could still think, but not so slow it was noticeable. The wonderful thing about the human brain, is that it was pretty good at improvising on the spot. The downside, was that it usually needed a bit of a preexisting plan. Something that Asahi was pretty sure Tomomi didn’t have. She just hoped he was good at improvising. “She managed to stop that Kaiju and she showed up twice, so I didn’t think it was a one off thing... I figured it would be best to spread awareness, get the word out.”

“Why give her a name? And why Ultrawoman Grigio?”

“Well, we couldn’t keep calling her the grey and yellow giant... So Ultra because she, uh, can do really cool stuff, woman because well, that’s obvious, and Grigio because... Well it’s Italian for grey.” Asahi could tell that Tomomi was doing his best and frankly, she didn’t think she’d be able to come up with a much better answer herself, so she figured it was good enough. Hopefully Matsuoka would believe it.

She couldn’t really tell, but Matsuoka seemed to believe it. He seemed to be mulling over the response before giving a nod, “I suppose that makes enough sense.”

Quietly, Asahi let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Tomomi did the same, though she was pretty sure his was a bit more noticeable. If Matsuoka noticed, though, he didn’t say anything.

“What do you two think about all the Kaiju attacks, then?” Oh boy, he was full of questions.

Tomomi responded first, “I mean, it’s not good, all these Kaijus just inexplicably rampaging through the city.”

“Same, really, it’s very not happy... Personally, I think that there might be...” Asahi wasn’t sure if she wanted to finish the thought. She’d been thinking about it for a while now. It was odd that the monsters, at least the ones that didn’t seem to be rampaging for the normal reasons, always focused on her right away when she appeared. That and the Kaiju that appeared in Ayaka before that portal she fell through. She had a feeling that the Kaiju in Ayaka, the portal, and most of the Kaiju attacks on this Earth were all connected. But she didn’t have much proof, it was mostly observation and a sort of gut feeling. But Katsumi always said to trust your gut. Of course, she wasn’t sure if she should voice it to someone who didn’t know she was Grigio. “Well I think that a bunch of those attacks are connected. Maybe their all being controlled.”

“Being controlled,” Matsuoka seemed surprised at her idea, which was fair, it was a bit out of left field. “What makes you say that?”

“Uh, well, in a bunch of the Kaiju attacks, they just randomly start rampaging for seemingly no reason. They can’t be stopped through normal means... and when I-Ultrawoman Grigio shows up, they focus on her right away.” She shrugs slightly, hoping she was believable, “It just... seems like there’s someone else behind it all.” It wasn’t like she could list _all_ of her reasons. But she could list enough of them.

Matsuoka considered her words, “You may have a point, though it’s hard to say.”

“But why would someone even bother? It’s such an odd thing to do...” Tomomi wondered, placing a hand on his chin.

“Because there are things out there that do stuff like that just for the sake of it, I guess.” Asahi sighed, taking a drink. “I mean, it’s not exactly _unheard_ of.”

“Well, I’ve never heard of someone using Kaiju in such a way,” Matsuoka says, “But you are right. There are some people who do horrible things for no real reason.” Oh right, they haven’t had a “fate of the planet” scenario or something here. At least not one involving Kaiju.

“Anyway...” Tomomi seemed to be trying to change the subject, “It’s a real roadblock, but I’m sure given time and effort everything will work out.”

“Yes,” Matsuoka agreed, “Hopefully, after this people won’t just lose all trust in Kaijus all together.”

“You guys really want to see a world where Kaijus and people can really just live peacefully, huh?” Asahi comments, “I mean, that’s pretty cool.”

Tomomi grins, “It’s been Kaoru and mine’s dream for... Geez, I’m not sure how long. That’s what we bonded over in highschool, actually.” He leans back and closes his eyes, a wistful expression, “I mean, we knows it’s pretty unrealistic, but still... I guess that’s what dreams are for.”

“I think it’s good that you two have such lofty dreams. It’ll make every step closer feel all the more happy!” She insisted, “My brothers have... someone they’ve worked with who always says that you should never stop trying to reach your dreams. That even if they seem impossible you should still try and never give up, because dreams can always come true.”

Matsuoka chuckles, “Well, I suppose I have to agree with that person.”

“What about you?” Tomomi asks, poking (stabbing) his fork through his salad, “What’s your dream, Asahi?”

“My dream?” Asahi hums in thought, then responds, “I guess… I’m not sure… Really, I’m just happy if I can be around my friends and family!”

Tomomi chuckles a bit before saying, “I guess you must miss them then, huh? Since you’re so far away from your home and your family.”

She’s quiet for a moment, before answering, “… I mean… Yeah…” She trails off, “ But it’s okay! I’ll see them again soon enough! Worrying about that would be really not happy.” 

Matsuoka laughs, not even trying to hide it, “You’re very cheerful, aren’t you?” He asks, then adds, “Well, that’s good. There’s so can be so much negativity in the world.”

“Exactly,” Asahi grins, “The way I see it, you can’t control the world, but you can control how you’re feeling! And I choose to feel happy!”

Their conversation continued on various topics, but Matsuoka had to return to KPaRS and Tomomi had a few other things to do, so they all had to leave.

\---

Today’s Kaiju of the Day (a title that isn’t entirely accurate, but neither is Monster of the Week, as monster don’t appear daily, but still more than weekly) was apparently called Gudon. It’s appearance was more akin to a bug than a reptile, though resembled both. Spike decorated it’s body, barring the stomach area and the neck up, with long horns on the top of it’s head. Instead of hands, Gudon had whips.

The most advice Tomomi had given Grigio before she began the fight was something along the lines of “Same as most Kaiju, tail and teeth, but also those whips”.

So yeah, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly unusual to worry about, which Grigio was pretty grateful for. It seemed, in order to attack her, Gudon would have to get close to her, which Grigio could avoid just by keeping her distances and shooting her arrows. As long as it doesn’t break building’s too much, it shouldn’t have much ammunition to throw at her. She’d learned _last time_ that that was something that some Kaiju’s did (like the one she’d fought, then, which she was told was a Red King).

She’d been doing pretty well with her plan, or at least she thought so. She was pretty sure that it would have continued going pretty well, but, unsurprisingly, there was a wrench thrown into her plans. KPaRS’(... You know, she still hadn’t figured out the best word to describe it. Plane? Jet? She really never knew, she’d have to ask someone later. Maybe Tomomi had an idea. Anyway.) Their jet (That’s what she was going to call it until proven otherwise, because plane sounded a bit wrong) had flown near, trying to assist. In the past, that’d... Well if it didn’t work, it didn’t hurt. Today though, was a bit of a change of form.

When KPaRS got close, Gudon took the chance to try to grab something. That something, being probably the worst possible thing it could have grabbed. KPaRS’ jet.

_Crap._

Grigio knew that she couldn’t just stand there and hope for the best. The biggest issue was how to make sure that KPaRS got free of Gudon but stay pretty safe. She honestly wasn’t sure what to do. Should she just launch an arrow at Gudon? Would KPaRS be fine?

KPaRS was trying to pull free of Gudon’s grip, finding little success.

She needed to do something. But she didn’t know what! What would be the best thing to do! She didn’t want to mess up and make things worse! What if instead of letting go, Gudon tightened it’s grip?!

She was snapped out of her thoughts by an irritated Jun, who didn’t even sound like she was meaning to be heard by Grigio. “She’s not really making me think she’s _not_ behind this!” It sounded like a response or maybe just a comment made with the knowledge that Rin would understand who she was talking about.

“Performance anxiety?” Rin offered in response, then let out a groan of frustration, followed by, “I’m sure she’ll do something.”

“Well I’m not so sure!”

Grigio really needed to do something. She needed to stop thinking so hard and move! Do something! Anything! At that point, she hadn’t even realized she was running at the monster until she was nearly close enough to touch it. And then she tackled it. Not her preferred way of attacking, but seeing as Gudon was preoccupied prior, it hadn’t noticed her coming and was thoroughly startled. It released KPaRS as Grigio was left to come up with what to do next.

In something of a panic, she punches it,trying to stall to make sure that KPaRS got a far enough away. Now _she_ needed to put some distance between her and Gudon before- Shit. Okay, new plan. Gudon had a grip on her wrist with it’s whip, using the other to attack her.

She tries to wrench her wrist free, wincing with every hit of it’s other whip, but found that her attempts weren’t effective. Grigio shifts slightly and kicks it in the stomach, causing it’s grip to loosen, at least enough that she was able to practically throw herself away from Gudon.

Her color timer was beeping now, she didn’t really have a lot of time left to finish fighting the monster. With KPaRS flying farther away now, keeping their distance, she was able to use her bow to keep Gudon occupied long enough to tie it up with Grigio Bind.

Grigio hoped that Rin and Jun were alright, she wasn’t sure if Gudon had done any damage when it grabbed them. Although she was sure that it wasn’t going to stop them.

She did wish that she hadn’t panic so much before though. She didn’t have a lot of experience fighting, and as it turned out, there was a lot to take into account when a Kaiju grabs something with people in it.


	8. I Believe in Second Chances and That's Why I Believe in You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi becomes a Pokemon trainer. Sort of.

Asahi had been cleaning out her pockets that day. Pulling some candy wrappers she hadn’t yet thrown away among a few other bits and bobs that she’d shoved in there at some point or another. She tried to do it every once in a while. 

While she was refilling her pockets with candy, Tomomi walked by, looking down at the items scattered on the table. There wasn’t anything particularly unusual, at least as far as Asahi was concerned, but there did seem to be something that interested Tomomi.

“Is that one of your... medals?” He asked, pointing at the object he was referring to on the table.

Asahi looked up, noticing where he was pointing. It was the Grigio Regina Crystal. She liked to keep it with her in her pocket, as opposed to wherever the Gyro and the rest of the Crystals went when she wasn’t using them. It let her keep Saki close, she supposed.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Asahi responded, trying to hide the way her lips were beginning to dip into a frown.

He leans closer to inspect it, “It’s a Kaiju,” He notes, “But I’ve never seen this Kaiju before.”

“Um...” Asahi began, “That’s, uh, Grigio Regina,”

“Grigio Regina?” He glances at her, “And you’re Grigio?” There was a lot more to the question than what he voiced. It was questioning both how and why the names both were Grigio.

“The person who used the Gyro and the Crystals before me, her name was Grigio.” Even if that wasn’t what Asahi knew her as, “That’s why the Kaiju shares a name, because they belonged to her and I took the name Grigio in her memory. Because she was really important to me...”

Tomomi looks from her to the Crystal and then back to her. Though she hadn’t said everything there was to say, he didn’t ask much further. She could tell he wanted to, perhaps to ask more about Saki, but he seemed to have the restraint not to. So instead he chose to speak of something else, “Does it do anything?”

“What?”

“The Crystal,” He clarified, “You have a Crystal to transform into Grigio, but does this Kaiju Crystal do anything?”

Asahi thought about it, “Before - before I was Grigio, that is - I was able to use it and I could become Grigio Regina.” She reached to the table, picking up the Crystal, flipping it around in her hands. She held it up to her face, looking at the picture of Grigio Regina on the front. “After I became Ultrawoman Grigio, I never tried using it again. Seemed pointless, since I could just go straight to Grigio.” She knew that Ultraman Ginga, Hikaru, was able to become Kaiju’s using his item - she wasn’t really sure what it was called - but had long since started skipping that step and going straight to Ginga. When it was often a better choice to use the power of an Ultra, it didn’t make sense to use the power of a Kaiju.

Tomomi hummed, stretching, before walking away. Whether he’d realize it or not though, their conversation had gotten Asahi thinking. Could she still use the Kaiju Crystals? All she had with her was the Grigios, she’d let her mom keep a hold of all the others that they’d come across, but Asahi insisted on keeping the three Grigio Crystals. No one had tried to argue with her about that, even her brothers understood how important Saki was to her.

It was still the morning, so Asahi decided, she knew what she was going to do today! She finishes cleaning up the table and returning some of it’s contents to her pocket. She needed to test and see what, if anything, happened when she tried to use a Kaiju Crystal. It might not be important, it might not be at all helpful and all it was was the same as before. But she felt that she owed it to Saki to know the full extent of her abilities - and if a part of that was whether the Kaiju Crystals still did anything, then that was what she needed to know.

The biggest issue was where to test it. She couldn’t just do that in the city, if she could still become a Kaiju, that would cause a lot of alarm, what with all the Kaiju attacks. So she’d need to at least go somewhere outside the city, preferable without a ton of people. Even then, she had to try not to attract KPaRS’ attention. That was assuming she could even still use the Crystals.

With no intended destination in mind, she set off to the train station. That would be the best way to get out of the city, she’d just have to figure where to go from there. A bit of a train ride later, she arrives in a small town. The overall size of the town wasn’t very important, though it did contribute to the part that was. She just needed somewhere that she could find a place where a Kaiju appearing wouldn’t be noticed. At least not very much.

She finds a nature trail that leads into a forest, which she figures if she follows it should take her far enough away. She didn’t mind the walk, it was nice, peaceful. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in the area, of course given it was a forest, unless they made a lot of noise, she probably wouldn’t be able to notice if someone was nearby. 

But really, she was pretty sure her brothers had transformed in places with more people then here, so she was probably fine. After walking for a while, she ends up entering a clearing. She surveys it, quickly deciding that it should be large enough and far enough that no one should notice her. Even if there were people near, the second they saw a Kaiju, they’d probably run away. By the time anyone might be able to contact KPaRS, she’d probably be back to normal. Again, that was assuming that the Crystal still worked.

With a deep breath, Asahi takes out her Gyro in one hand, the Grigio Regina Crystal in the other. She looks at them, remembering the only time she’d ever held them at the same time and try to use them. She inserts the Crystal into the Gyro’s center, moving the hand to grab the other handle of the Gyro. It was time to try... She pushes in the sides of the Gyro in and...

Nothing.

She tries again.

Still nothing.

Well, she supposed that answered the question. She couldn’t still use the Kaiju Crystals. It shouldn’t... She shouldn’t really be all that sad about that. The reason she’d never tried sooner was because she was stronger as Grigio the Ultra than as Grigio the Kaiju. Besides, the Kaiju Crystals were Saki’s thing - so to speak - and it was that reason that was probably the real answer to why she hadn’t tried sooner.

But it was fine. Nothing to be horribly upset about. She still had the Crystals, they were still her memories of Saki. So she should be happy about that!

It doesn’t stop her from dejectedly pulling out the Crystal, gripping in tightly in her and looking down at the Gyro, as though it had insulted her. In a way, it felt like it was laughing at her. Like it was saying “ _Haha! Look at me! Remember that thing that Saki could do? Sorry, now that you’re an Ultra, you can’t! It’s fine, it’s not like you’re a fighter anyway. Actually possibly having some skills that could help fight aren’t necessary!”_ ... And she supposed that was the answer to why she was so annoyed. As Ultrawoman Grigio, she just didn’t have a lot of offensive ability. While the Kaiju’s weren’t getting stronger, she wasn’t going to assume that was impossible. Especially if she was right about her theory that there was someone behind this.

She sighs, not quite feeling up to a smile right then. She was alone, so it wasn’t like anyone would see her.

Or at least, she _had been_ alone, but judging by the sounds of giggling children that were slowly getting louder, she wasn’t going to be for long. The children that were making such a ruckus were a small group, probably all between the ages of seven and nine - though Asahi wasn’t all that good at recognizing the age of children. They were running around, having now ran into the clearing. One of them attempts to climb onto another, knocking them both to the ground. They laugh.

Another one roars playfully, while the one on top of the other, mimics it. Asahi’s half tempted to ask if the two on the ground are okay, but the two quickly stand back up. They change their group formation, with the little girl who had been knocked down standing alone with the others circling around her. One of the children notice Asahi.

“Hi!” The little kid waves, “Would you like to play with us, miss?”

Another next to him gives an excited nod, “You could be a Kaiju, like we are!” He gives a squeaky roar at the end.

The girl who stands alone pouts, “No fair! You’re all Kaijus and I’m supposed to be fighting you _alone!”_

“Well,” the first boy suggests, “Why can’t she be a Kaiju who helps Hanako- I mean Grigio?” There was a detail in that question that surprised Asahi. They were playing and the girl, Hanako it seemed, was playing Grigio. Did children really-? Well she supposed it made sense, but she hadn’t been in this world very long.

Another child, farther from her, gasped, “A Kaiju that helps Grigio? That’s crazy!”

“Yeah!” Another piped up, “Why would a Kaiju do that? They just attack places and cause trouble!”

“I don’t see why a Kaiju couldn’t help Grigio,” Asahi said, “Kaiju can be nice.”

“Then why do they keep attacking Kurokita?” One child quietly asked.

Asahi thought about the best way to explain that, “Well, you know how sometimes when someone bugs you, you get really annoyed and sometimes angry?” The children nod, more or less, “Sometimes that’s how the Kaiju feel when people bug them. And then sometimes they end up attacking the city.”

“But that’s not what always happens, especially recently,” She continued, “For some reason, Kaiju have been attacking and no one knows why. But that doesn’t mean their bad, and even if it does, not all Kaiju attack. So I don’t see why a Kaiju couldn’t help Grigio.”

The children seem to take in what she said, before one of them groaned, “I’m hungry. Let’s go home and get lunch.” The other nodded and they ran off. Except for one, the boy who first spoke up. He stood there, looking at her.

“Do you really think that a Kaiju and Grigio could work together?” He asked, “Every time I say that to an adult, they don’t think so.”

Asahi smiled at him, “Of course,” She said, “And I’m sure that if there was a chance, she’d be more than willing to work with them.”

The boy get’s a determined look in his eyes, “When I go back home after the summer, I’m going to see Grigio,” He said, “And once she finishes stopping a Kaiju, I’m going to tell her that I know she wants both Kaijus and people to be happy!”

So the boy must be from Kurokita, “I’m sure she’d appreciate it. There are a lot of people who don’t think Grigio really wants to help.” And boy, had Asahi heard those people go on and on.

The boy nodded, “One day, I’ll help people, like her. I’m going to join KPaRS!” By the look he was giving her, she could tell that he would do everything he dreamed to, “I’ll be Akimitsu the hero, and then little kids will look up to me and want to help people!”

Asahi laughed, “I’m sure that you will, and I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for your name.” As much as she’d like to see that, though, she was holding out on the hope that she would be home sooner than ten or so years from now. 

The boy, Akimitsu, gave her a wave and ran off, most likely to have lunch, leaving Asahi alone in the clearing. She sighed, deciding that she should at least head back to Kurokita. She reaches into her pocket and retrieves the Grigio Regina Crystal. Honestly, she wished that she could use it, because while she knew Saki was with her, especially when she was as Grigio, there was a strange feeling that there was still more of Saki in the Grigio Kaiju Crystals then in the Grigio Ultra Crystal.

She makes it back into the town without anything interesting happening, though the grumbling of her stomach makes her regret not bringing lunch. Maybe she could find somewhere to eat here in the town? Probably, but she wasn’t really sure where to look... She ends up wandering around a bit, before she walks by a group of teens, huddled around one of their phones.

“Seriously?” One asked, and it wasn’t like Asahi was meaning to listen in but she was slightly curious, “Another one?”

“Kaijus just keep attack, Kurokita especially,” One notes, then laughed, “That place has to be cursed! Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad I don’t live in the city now.”

Asahi thought she did a pretty good job hiding her alarm. But there was a Kaiju attack, she knew she had to get there quickly. She didn’t think she was so far from Kurokita that she could transform and fly there, whether she had enough time to fight the monster was what she wasn’t sure about. That, and where she’d transform at. She runs around and finds an alley way, deciding that she doesn’t have time to spare, quickly transforming and flying off towards the city. She misses the excited yell that Akimitsu makes when he notices Grigio leaving, pointing wildly.

It didn’t take her long to fly to Kurokita and what she was greeted with was a Kaiju she was certain she’d seen before. It looked vaguely birdlike, though also like a star, with a beak and a horn on it’s head. On it’s stomach was some kind of marking or something.

Grigio summoned her bow, firing an arrow at the monster. When the arrow got close, the thing on the Kaiju’s stomach opened, like a second, star shaped mouth, and began to inhale, sucking up the arrow.

“What the hell?” She squeaks, standing there flabbergasted. Did the Kaiju seriously just eat her arrow? Should she try again? Tentatively, she raises her bow and fires another arrow, watching as the Kaiju repeated it’s previous actions. Okay, so projectiles don’t work, which probably took Grigio Shot out of the equation as well. That left her with only her physical attacks. Which meant she had to get close and her hand to hand skills weren’t very good. She moves forward, trying to get close to attack when the Kaiju’s horn begins to glow. It fires a blast from it’s horn, one that Grigio just doesn’t have the time to block. She’s too close so all she can do is throw her arms to cover her head and take the hit. It hurt. A lot.

“ _If only I could be Grigio Regina right now...”_ She thought, trying to pull herself together, “ _Then I’d be a bit more suited for hand to hand combat...”_

 _“Do you really think that a Kaiju and Grigio could work together?”_ She’s not sure why, but she hears Akimitsu’s question once agian.

_“When I go back home after the summer, I’m going to see Grigio, and once she finishes stopping a Kaiju, I’m going to tell her that I know she wants both Kaijus and people to be happy!”_

Her color timer begins to flash, and Grigio hopes that Akimitsu won’t be too disappointed. Disappointed that Grigio failed to stop this monster. Disappointed that there may never be a day that Grigio and a Kaiju will work together, because all the Kaiju she encounters here seem to be more willing to fight against her than with her. Disappointed because he chose to look up to someone who can’t even fight a monster who’s even slightly more challenging than the one’s before it.

The Kaiju began to charge a blast at it’s horn again. This time she might be able to put up a barrier, but that wouldn’t help her stop the Kaiju. That would just delay her defeat. There just didn’t seem to be much left to do.

“Grigio!” And she isn’t sure where he is, but she can hear Tomomi yelling to her, “You can’t give up! Not yet! For your friend who you named yourself in memory of!”

And he had a point. He may not have known Saki, but he was right. Saki wouldn’t want her to just give up... But what was there left that she could do. She might not even be able to get close enough to attack it, and she’s not even sure if she could take another blast from the Kaiju.

Then there’s another glow, she isn’t sure from where, not right away. Then she sees, a Crystal, glowing and presenting itself to her. She grabs it, seeing it was the Grigio Regina Crystal.

She could hear it talking to her. Well it wasn’t really talking to her, but she could hear what it was trying to tell her. “ _I’m here. I’ll help you.”_ How, she wasn’t exactly sure, but she can feel it telling her to try.

She puts the Crystal into her Gyro, like she had earlier, and pushed the handles in. This time, there was a sound, “Grigio Regina!” and she could feel an energy building. She pushes it in again, and again, and the energy builds and builds. Finally, it reaches it’s point and a light shoots from the Gyro, taking form besides Grigio. With a roar, there stood Grigio Regina.

Grigio was shocked, understandably, but she knew she didn’t have time. As the Kaiju fires it’s blast, she summons a barrier while Regina fires missiles from her cannons. Then Regina runs towards the Kaiju, tackling it and jabbing her horn into it. The monster jolted as it was shocked by Regina’s electricity. Grigio saw her opportunity and used a Grigio Shot. She wasn’t sure how well it would work, but she followed it with Grigio Bind.

While Grigio Shot hit the monster, it’s second mouth on it’s stomach just opened to swallow up the bindings. Regina swung her tail at the monster, giving Grigio an opening to land a solid punch on the Kaiju’s chest. It recoiled back, stumbling, before falling. When it hit the ground, it begins to turn into light.

Was it... was it dead? Normally, Kaiju’s sort of blew up when they died, but that wasn’t what this one was doing. Regina disappeared in a flash of light, her Crystal returning to Grigio. Actually, the light the Kaiju was becoming was a lot like what Regina just did... Then the light of the Kaiju shrunk into a small size and shot at her. It was a Crystal.

But Grigio didn’t have time to worry about that, she turned around and took off. She’d worry about it when she got back to Tomomi.

\---

“Did you summon Grigio Regina to fight with you?” Instead of being greeted, Asahi returned to Tomomi’s curiousity.

“I guess?” Was her response.

“And what about the Bemstar that you were fighting?” He asked. Well, she knew what the Kaiju was called now. “It just turned into a little ball of light and shot into you?”

She presents the Bemstar Crystal she’d just gained, resulting in a shocked face from Tomomi. “I think I’ll be able to summon him like I did Grigio Regina.” She explained, “So he’ll be able to help me fight.”

“That’s,” Tomomi began, “Actually really helpful, especially since you said you weren’t good at fighting on your own.”

“Yeah!” Asahi agreed with a smile. For some reason, she felt a lot lighter now. And tired, but that wasn’t unusual after a fight.


	9. You're Power Comes From Kindness, That's What Makes You a Hero!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Kaiju that no one recognizes shows up and Grigio struggles to fight it, even with her new power to summon Kaijus to aid her. Then a strange man shows up and ultimately aids her in calming the Kaiju.

Sometimes, Asahi worried. Okay, scratch that, she worried a lot. Because she could only do so much. Because Grigio could only do so much. Honestly, at this point, she was just lucky that her Grigio Bind would hold long enough for the Kaijus to get moved to somewhere they could be contained. It seemed that whatever caused them to rampage wore off after a few days. At least, that’s what KPaRs told everyone and it wasn’t like she was in any position to think they were lying about it.

But there were still things that worried her. What if her bind didn’t last long enough? What if, there came a day where she couldn’t weaken a Kaiju enough for the binding to actually work at all? Even with her new found ability to summon Kaiju’s to fight alongside her, there was still a possibility that it wouldn’t be enough. She’d seen that there were things stronger than even Grigio Regina - memories of when she tried to help her brothers and Geed come to mind, though she supposed that could also have been a result of both her unfamiliarity with Regina and her ineptitude at fighting.

Besides, she could tell that this Regina that she could summon, it wasn’t as strong as what she witnessed when Saki used it. The reasoning for that she wasn’t sure, it could be anything from the fact that no one was really controlling it to she was simply weaker, thus making Regina weaker. She didn’t really have a way of knowing. And she hadn’t had a chance to use Bemstar’s Crystal yet, there hadn’t been a Kaiju attack yet, something she was happy about because it hadn’t even been a week.

Which reminded her of the other thing she was worried about. She’d been in Kurokita for about a month and a half and she still had pretty much no clue why she was there or how to get back... So she was pretty worried about that too. Not to mention the knowledge that her family was probably worried sick about her...

She... Well, unsurprisingly, she missed her family. She missed Katsumi’s constant annoyance at how their dad kept making more and more ridiculous shirt designs that no one would buy. She missed Isami rambling on and on about whatever his newest project was. She missed their dad and his goofiness and their mom and how much she just adored all of them. She missed knowing that if anything happened her brothers would be there for her. Even when they were out of the country, she knew that if she was in trouble they’d drop everything to help her the second they found out. She missed... She missed knowing that between the three of them everything would be fine.

She thought about how her brothers would react to finding out she could summon Kaiju to help her now. She could imagine the looks on their faces, really she couldn’t wait to see them for real! And Isami would probably try to figure out why it only suddenly happened instead of being something she could always do. 

Asahi probably would have spent much more time thinking and letting herself worry, had the TV, which at this point was always playing with the volume low on the news, caught her attention. Another Kaiju attack.

Tomomi looks over at the TV, squinting at the screen, “I’ve... Never seen that Kaiju before.”

Asahi looks at him surprised, usually, Tomomi at least recognized a Kaiju. “Really?” She asked.

He frowns, “It reminds me a bit of a Litra, but not quite,” He looks to her, “Be careful, we really don’t know what it might do.”

“Of course!”

When Grigio arrives, she has a quick moment to take in the monster. It was mostly blue, with some more tan areas and what appeared like a tuft of red hair on the top of it’s head. It had a beak, lending even more to it’s birdlike appearance as well as claws. As soon as she finishes examining the Kaiju, though, it notices her. Like many Kaiju she’s fought, when it sees her, it wastes no time in focusing in on her. She would still very much like to know why that happens.

The Kaiju roared, though it reminded Grigio more of a squawk or caw, and lifted itself off the ground, flying towards her. Though it remained low to the ground, Grigio wasn’t sure how to dodge it, since she didn’t want get hit by it. She settled on jumping over it. Once she landed, she decided it was time to use her new ability.

She takes out the Bemstar Crystal, figuring it would be best to get and feel for him. She places it into her Gyro, pushing the handles inward, “Color our bonds with your power!” She thought it was fitting call. From the Gyro a let flies, taking the form of Bemstar beside her.

The Kaiju she was fighting had landed and turned around, now facing them. At the it’s beak a blue light began to form, which Grigio had learned from fighting Bemstar meant she should put a barrier up, so she did. From the Kaiju’s beak, a beam fired, hitting the barrier. She was glad her barriers were strong.

Bemstar roared and began to charge his own attack from his horn. While he did that, Grigio summoned her bow and prepared to shoot the Kaiju, but was startled by the Kaiju running towards her and slashing with it’s claws.She hadn’t expected that, causing her to lose her balance and fall. Before the Kaiju could do more, it was shot by Bemstar’s blast, making it stumble back.

The Kaiju shot another beam, this time directed at Bemstar, but Grigio wasn’t worried. Much like he did when they fought, the second mouth on Bemstar’s stomach opened up, swallowing up the beam. The Kaiju marched towards him, swinging it’s claws at him. Bemstar managed to fire another blast before the Kaiju swung it’s claws at him. Before the Kaiju’s attack could land, Bemstar disappeared in a ball of light.

The Kaiju was as shocked as Grigio was. Where did Bemstar go? It hadn’t actually gotten hit... so maybe it had a time limit, like she did? The Kaiju wasn’t distracted for long, though, and she decided that she’d worry about Bemstar later. She manages to fire a Grigio Shot at the Kaiju, which it more or less shrugged off, before it got to her and swung it’s claws again.

Grigio recognized that she was in a horrible position right now. She was knocked to the ground again, her color timer was beeping now, and there was nothing left to distract the Kajiu from her - Grigio really didn’t have time to try to summon Regina - she had no way of stopping the Kaiju’s attack. It quickly fired another beam from it’s mouth, giving her only the time to try to protect her head. 

When the attack hit, she felt the pain from the attack, but she also felt the pain from hitting the ground, no longer as Grigio. Beside her, her Gyro and the Grigio Crystal clattered to the ground. Asahi groaned, opening her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the Kaiju, which looked around for a moment - even looking right at her - before making what she thought was a sad sound. Then, it disappeared in a dark, shadowy, fog. That was weird...

The next thing she noticed, was the pain she was in. She took a look at herself in the process of trying to stand up. She winced, definitely feeling pain in her arms and her side where the Kaiju’s claws had hit her. Rolling up her sleeves she finds cuts, most definitely from the Kaiju, with similar one’s underneath her cardigan and blouse on her side. While they thankfully weren’t bleeding too much, she knew she’d need to get some bandages on them.

Well, at least she knew that Tomomi had plenty at home.

\---

“Are you alright?” Tomomi already had bandages and disinfectant ready when she got back. She’d managed to avoid most people’s eyes, since very few people had returned into that part of the city. Still, Asahi was pretty sure she looked like she’d lost a fight in a rock quarry. Which was partially correct.

“As it turns out,” Asahi groaned, “That Kaiju’s claws are really sharp.” Tomomi sits her down and she pulls her cardigan off, letting him began to clean and bandage the cuts on her arms. 

Tomomi hummed, “I did some additional research while you were gone, but I can’t find any record of that Kaiju existing. By what I’ve heard from the news, KPaRS is just as confused.” He frowns slightly, “They think it’s either been hidden or it came from off of Earth.”

“I’d like to know why it just... disappeared like that,” Asahi said, “After it beat me...”

“That’s a good question too,” Tomomi nods, then changes the subject as he moves to the other arm. “Bemstar just disappeared there.”

She nods, “I think that he might only be able to stay around for a limited amount of time, like how I can only stay as Grigio for so long.” She shrugs, “But I’m not exactly sure. Guess we’d have to time it to see.”

The cut on her side is being cleaned and bandaged now, “How do you plan to defeat that Kaiju if it shows up again?”

Asahi sighs, “I don’t know...” That Kaiju just seemed to be too strong for her and something just didn’t feel right. But she didn’t know what.

Tomomi looked at her for a moment before giving her a small smile, “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” He said, placing a hand on her shoulder, “You’re an Ultrawoman. Everyone believes that you will.”

Asahi just wished it was as simple as just belief and hope. Sure those were important, but she had to figure out how to calm down a Kaiju that was just too strong. And she was certain there was something aiding that Kaiju. Somehow, someway.

\---

Asahi wasn’t sure how, but she found herself back in the part of the city that she’d fought the Kaiju in. There were a few places that would need reconstruction, but a lot of the area was simply evacuated for safety. So she walked around, no real purpose in mind. She had a smile on her face as she looked around, finding herself in a park. Despite the smile, there was still uneasiness in her. And worry. She knew that if the Kaiju showed up again, she wouldn’t have any way to beat it.

Across the way, outside the part, there was a screen playing the news. The newscaster spoke about the fight earlier, noting how Grigio seemed to be greatly over powered by the Kaiju. Asahi supposed she could try to use Regina against the Kaiju, since she was pretty sure that Regina would be stronger than Bemstar. The screen showed a video, focusing on the Kaiju.

“Lidorias isn’t usually all that violent of a Kaiju, you know.” Asahi jumped slightly, turning around to see the source of the comment. There was a man with brown hair, dressed in a blue jacket. He was watching the video of the fight.

“Lidorias?” She asked, “You know what that Kaiju is?” No one else seemed to know, making it very strange that this man did.

The man turns to look at her, giving her a smile, “I’m very close with a family of Lidorias back at my home.” He explained, “Though I’m curious why this one is so... angry.”

“Angry?” Asahi thought about the man’s words, “Wait a second, but there’s no record of this Kaiju existing on this Earth!”

The man examines her. She certainly looked much better than she had when she’d arrived at Tomomi’s apartment earlier. She’d changed clothes, her jacket hiding the bandages on her arms, though the ends of them peek under her sleeves.

“I never said home was here,”

If it wasn’t here, than were was it? Could it be another Earth? Maybe, she supposed, though that made her wonder why the man was here, if that were the case. “Well,” She said, “What do you think would be the best way to... to calm down the - the Lidorias? You said it seemed angry?”

“I suppose you need a way that could calm any Kaiju,” The man didn’t offer anything about what that way is, but he did continue, “And she seems quite angry. But it doesn’t seem like someone’s just bugged her, though she is very far from home. It seems like someone is forcing her to be angry.”

“But how could someone just force her to be angry?” Asahi just couldn’t understand that. Well, she’d seen someone just lose all hope, and she’s seen Ultra’s lose control. But she didn’t know how something - or as this man put it someone - could just make a Kaiju just... angry.

But the man doesn’t offer an answer, just watches the screen and the video of Lidorias, his lips twitching into a frown. Asahi watched him, several questions running through her mind. Who was this man? Where did he come from?

“Do you think that she can calm Lidorias?” The man asked suddenly, turning to look at Asahi once more. She was somewhat startled by his abrupt question.

“Who?”

“The Ultrawoman,” The man clarified and Asahi thought it was odd that he didn’t just say Grigio.

“Grigio?” Asahi thinks, because this question is made so much harder by it being asked to her. Does she think she can calm Lidorias? Before, when fighting Kaiju’s, she just tired it and tied it up, letting it calm down with time. But would that work with a Kaiju that her attacks don’t seem to be all that effective on? Probably not. 

“I...” And as much as Asahi wants to say yes, as much as she wants to place confidence in Grigio, she can’t. Because if it had been anyone else she was being asked about , she’d say yes. Had it been her brothers or Zero or any of the Ultras they’d worked with, they probably could. But she wasn’t sure that she could. She had no real plan, no way of even calming the sweetest of Kaiju. A Pigmon could throw a tantrum and she wouldn’t be able to calm it down! So as much as Asahi wanted to say she could, she knew it would be a lie. Not just to the man, but to herself as well. 

“I don’t...” But she couldn’t say it. Because somehow, giving up the hope that she could, was so much more painful than the frown on her face. It was easier for her to not be happy, to frown so openly, than it was for her to fully admit defeat. “I don’t know...”

The man tilts his head, undoubtedly noticing her hesitation. Then he smiles at her, “An Ultra has two powers at their disposal,” He said, looking towards the screen, though it no longer display the fight and had long moved on to other news.

“Their kindness,” He said, “And their strength.”

“Kindness and strength? But anyone can be kind and anyone can be strong.” She’s tentative when she talks, because this man, whoever he is, is no ordinary man. She hadn’t realize right away, but she knew now. “What makes them special for an Ultra?”

“They’re not, really.” And from the way the man looked at her, Asahi could just tell he was sincere, “The kindness and strength of an Ultra are no different than that of a humans.”

But the man hadn’t really answered her question, “But why are they an Ultra’s power, then?”

And when the man responds he has a smile on his face. A genuine smile that makes her think he knows precisely who he’s talking to. “An Ultra is often in the position to use those powers differently. When fighting a Kaiju, they have two options. To treat them with kindness, to spare them after the fight, or with strength. To destroy them.” The man looks away, towards the sky for a moment before continuing. “Sometimes though, that choice isn’t there. Sometimes you have to use force. Not everyone is willing to change their ways and only wish ill will to others.” Something tells Asahi that he’s speaking from experience.

“Well,” She manages to say, though it’s quiet, “Do you think Grigio may be able to calm Lidorias?”

The man doesn’t hesitate when responding, “Yes, but I don’t believe she will be able to do it alone. Not yet.”

“Alone? What do you mean?” The man doesn’t respond, instead turning to walk away. “Hey! Who are you?”

The man turns around and smiles when he responds, “Musashi Haruno, it’s nice to meet you, Ultrawoman Grigio.”

What.

How did the man, Musashi, know that she was Grigio? Did he know the entire time? Like really know and not just a hunch? Was that why he chose to talk to her.

“How-” Asahi would have loved to ask even one of her myriad of questions, but then there was a shake and a thud. Looking up, she saw that Lidorias had returned. Then she noticed Musashi. He’d taken out some kind of small pill like item. And something in her head clicked.

Musashi knew she was an Ultra because _he_ was an Ultra.

She wasted no time pulling out her Gyro and Crystal, Musashi’s words just moments before making so much more sense. There was a Kaiju to deal with, and while she wasn’t really sure how, she was certain things would work out. “Color me with your power, Grigio!”

Beside her, Musashi called out, “Cosmos!” Which pretty much telling Asahi who he was. Since it was pretty much a given for an Ultra to in some way call out their name when transforming...

When the light clears, Grigio takes a moment to look at the Ultra beside her. Silver and blue, which surprised her. Other than her brother, she’d never seen an Ultra that had just blue as their base form. 

Lidorias though, once again wasn’t in the mood to give her much time to follow what was happening. Quickly she thought about what he’d said before, about how someone was making Lidorais angry like this. She wasn’t sure who it could be, but something told her that whatever was causing it was probably whatever was causing the other Kaijus to freak out.

At Lidorias’ beak, much as before, an energy began to glow. Okay, she was going to fire her beam, so Grigio quickly summoned a barrier. As the beam crashed into it, she turned to the Ultra beside her, Cosmos, “Please tell me you a plan, because getting beat up again would not be very happy.”

Cosmos looks at her for a brief moment and gives her a nod, then turns back to Lidorias. “I can calm her down, once I do that, I can take her back home.” Okay, that’s great. A plan and- wait. _Take her back home?_

Lidorias’ squawk makes Grigio decide she’ll worry about that later. She prepares to summon another barrier when out of the corner of her eye, she notices Cosmos, moving his arms until he finishes with a palm outstretched. There’s a light gathered, that when pushed by his palm moves, not particularly fast nor particularly slow, towards Lidorias. When the light touches her, her squawks and caws began to quiet and lessen. The dark shadowy thing that had appeared when Lidorias came and went was being seemingly pushed out of her. By the time all the light had gone to her, Lidorias had seemed to calm down entirely, the shadow nowhere to be seen. 

Grigio stared in disbelief for a moment. Just one technique and Lidorias, who had been rampaging and violent and angry before, was completely calm. She was hesitant to even believe it, until she watched as Cosmos walked toward Lidorias, placing a hand on her beak. The sound Lidorias made was what seemed to be of affection, but Grigio certainly was no expert.

“Well,” She managed to say, “I’m... I’m glad you were at least able to calm her down.” She was pretty sure this whole thing didn’t even count as a fight, It was honestly amazing, to her at least, that Cosmos could so easily calm down a Kaiju, even when there was apparently something making said Kaiju be angry like that.

“You - you said that you can - can take her back home? Are you and her from the same place?” There was a lot about Cosmos - about Musashi - that didn’t quite add up. 

Cosmos gave - what she was pretty sure counted as a smile, “A portal appeared and seemed to have sucked her up, from out home. I followed her to make sure she was okay, only to see her standing in the city, attacking, and then fighting you.” He gives Lidorias a soothing rub on the head, “I knew something was wrong. Lidorias, they’re a very peaceful species, they very rarely attack. And she knows how to recognize an Ultra, so she wouldn’t have started attacking you unless provoked.”

Grigio watches how Lidorias nuzzles her beak into Cosmos’ hand, and somehow she can’t even find it in herself to be particularly annoyed. Of course, being annoyed meant not being happy, and really, this was a great time to be happy! Despite everything else running through her mind, one of the greatest of which was curiosity about not just Cosmos, but also who brought Lidorias here, and who made her so upset. But she pushed those aside for a moment a smiled,

“Well I’m happy! Because she’s all calmed down and no one had to get hurt.” She says it, but she’s still feeling some pain from the cuts from her previous fight with Lidorias. “Well no one other than myself, but that’ll heal.” She rubs her arm slightly, where she knew there would be bandages if she wasn’t in Ultra form.

Lidorias let out a cheerful cry and walked over to her. Grigio stiffened slightly, before Lidorias just nuzzled her neck. Grigio laughed, giving the Kaiju some pets, stopping when she pulled away. 

Cosmos smiled, “I think we should get going,”

“Of course!” Grigio beamed, “But thank you for your help! I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t shown up!”

As the two turn to leave, she waves at them, “It was wonderful to meet you, Lidorias, Cosmos!” And Cosmos gives her a wave goodbye while Lidorias squawks, which she decided to take as a goodbye. Cosmos took off, flying through the sky, with Lidorias following right after. Grigio watched as they flew away, one way or another returning to their home. It made her wonder, though, where was their home? They could never have been on this Earth, at least not very long or in a very public place, if no one knew of Ultras when she came here or had seen Lidorias before.

Soon they were out of sight Grigio returned to Asahi, happy that it had been so simply to stop Lidorias. But a part of her was still worried, because what if something like that happened again. A Kaiju too strong for her to defeat, even with her Kaiju’s help. There was no guarantee that there would be another Ultra like Cosmos there to help.

She looks up, only to see a small glowing light coming towards her. It wasn’t very big, really, but it was coming at her seemingly quickly. Asahi reaches her hand out, to try to catch the light. She was surprised when the light came directly to her hand, and she almost didn’t realize she had caught it. But then she realized what she was holding. It was round and bringing it so she could look at it revealed for sure what it was.

It was a Crystal, but not just any Crystal, not of a Kaiju like before with Bemstar. It was blue, and depicted on it was an Ultra. It was Cosmos.

Okay, that was strange. She’d never... She’d never used the Ultra Crystals before. She knew they existed, her brothers used six of them for their forms and she remember Saki mentioning them. But she’d never really seen any of them before, other than the elemental ones. She wondered if she could even use this Crystal. Because she’d never tried using any of her brothers’ Crystals.

Did that mean that this one had an element to it too? Or was that just exclusive to the six her brothers had? If not an element, then what did this Crystal do? As she continued walking back to Tomomi’s apartment, she put the Crystal in her pocket. It seemed she’d just have to try it out next time a Kaiju attacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can yall tell I've never really watched Cosmos? Two episodes, Ultraman Saga, and Orb Origins isn't the best for trying to figure out how to write a character. If you'd like, you can go to my tumblr and tell me how well or how badly I BS like, half of this chapter.


	10. Carrying Onward, Bearing this Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, the big bad guy shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm finally introducing the bad guy!

Grigio was a bit irritated today. She was generally a morning person, she was pretty decent in the morning, maybe not at her most happiest, but still decent. But it was hard to stay happy in the morning, when you can’t even finish breakfast before a Kaiju shows up. So she wanted to end the fight as soon as she could.

The Kaiju was a red and sort of spiky, with two heads. Though the heads had breaks and the hands had claws, it didn’t look particularly birdlike. While normally, Grigio would be more worried about say and claws or the beak, as they were the most obvious dangerous parts, she’d quickly found out - as in as soon as she arrived - could freaking breath fire! Which made it very much a problem!

So Grigio, knowing how hard it would be to fight this Kaiju _and_ keep it from burning down half the city, decided to use the Crystal she got after meeting Cosmos. She’d used it last time a Kaiju attack and it calmed it down. So it would certainly keep the Kaiju from burning down half the city! Which was something she would very much like to do!

She pulls out the Crystal and places it in her Gyro, pushing the sides in. Instantly, she can feel a calming energy gather. She runs up the Kaiju, “Grigio Calming Tap!” She gently pats the Kaiju, feeling the calming energy transfer to it.

But the Kaiju just roars, casing Grigio to jump back. A shadowy aura appeared around it, for a moment, as it just shrugged off her calming tap. Now she didn’t know much about Cosmos or the power of the Cosmos Crystal, but she was pretty sure that it should actually do something.

But she did know that something was making at least some of the Kaiju rampage, so maybe whatever was causing it was also preventing the Crystal’s ability from working? She had no way to know for sure and she’d love to think about it more, but she had another problem on her hands. Namely the fact that the Kaiju was still here and still trying to turn her into Grilled Grigio.

So she pulled out a different Crystal, summoning Regina. Beside her, Grigio Regina appeared beside her, giving a roar. She and Tomomi had timed last time she had to fight a Kaiju and found that the Kaijus she summoned with the Crystals could only stick around for a minute, so she didn’t have a lot of time with Regina to try to get this Kaiju under control.

The Kaiju mouths began to gather fire, so Grigio created a barrier right as it fired, allowing the barrier to take the brunt of the heat. That would keep the surrounding buildings from catching on fire, at least too much. This wasn’t exactly the most ideal place to fight a Kaiju with fire, but she didn’t have a way to really move it.

Regina fires some of her missiles at the Kaiju, while Grigio summoned her bow, firing a scatter shot. The Kaiju roared as both the the attacks hit, but quickly recovered, spitting more fire from each of it’s mouths. Regina moved in front of Grigio, taking most of the fireball, but that did little to stop the fire balls from landing in the streets and buildings around them. Grigio winced slightly, knowing that this fight was going to be a far more destructive one than usual.

Regina moved up to the Kaiju, clawing at it and swinging her tail while Grigio continued to shoot at the Kaiju from afar. It seemed they might be able to stop the Kaiju, until the Kaiju roared and shook Regina off, who, at the same time, seemed to have ran out of time, disappearing in a glow of light. That meant that Grigio herself was probably close to halfway through her own time limit.

Shit. Okay, so things weren’t going as well as she had thought they were, which was saying something because her previous observation wasn’t really all that optimistic. But this was fine. She still had somewhere between two minutes and a minute and a half to beat this Kaiju - assuming she didn’t take too much damage from it’s attacks. This was fine.

The Kaiju let out another stream of fire, which Grigio managed to block with a barrier, though she couldn’t extend it to take all the fire, so some of it hit the buildings around her. And one of those structures around her? It turned out to be a tank of gas. Which exploded.

So with Grigio now knocked down, she was pretty sure she was going to have burns now, and parts of the city very much on fire around her, one thought ran through her mind, “ _This is fine.”_ To which the part of her brain that was currently not in the mood to be optimistic, stated, “ _No, it’s not.”_

Her timer started flashing now, telling her she really had to finish up this fight. But how? She heaves herself up. If she can’t beat this monster, than she needs to make sure it doesn’t destroy half the city. It’s too destructive to just leave standing around and hope that it disappears like Lidorias. So now, the question was how to make sure it couldn’t just continue rampaging.

It doesn’t matter if she’s close to it or not, she’s probably going to get fire shot at her. So, she decided that it was best not to risk getting close, and instead focused her energy into a Grigio Shot. This was enough to cause it to stumble back. Now that she had a moment while it was recovering, she uses Grigio Bind, making sure to tie around the beaks, to keep them closed. Hopefully it wouldn’t be able to use it’s fire, that way.

Would that be good enough? Would KPaRS be able to remove the Kaiju like this? Or would it manage to break free? She feels herself return to her human form, so she figures it will have to do. She doesn’t exactly have another choice.

As she looks up from the ground, watching for a moment, as the Kaiju struggles to break free. By some miracle, it can’t, but she’s worried it won’t stay like that. But Asahi knows she can’t stick around, so she heads back to Tomomi’s apartment.

\---

“Well, good news,” Tomomi said, sounding far happier than Asahi felt. Which was amazing, as Asahi was often happy, though today was just turning out not to be her day. “You don’t have any burns. Somehow.”

“Yay,” Asahi tried to sound at least a bit cheerful, she really did. But she hurt and had gotten her butt kicked, _again_ , and she just couldn’t find it in herself. This time, she may have been able to at least tie up the Kaiju - Pandon, Tomomi informed her - but if these Kaijus kept getting stronger...

“You sound...” Tomomi paused for a moment, as if searching for the right word. Maybe he was. “Upset.”

“That’s... that’s one way to put it.” She sighed, fingers finding Regina’s Crystal and fiddling with it in her pocket. “I’m just... worried.”

She looks up at Tomomi, “It seems these Kaiju keep getting stronger, and on some of them, I apparently can’t calm them using Cosmos’ Crystal. If their so strong... What can I do?”

Tomomi taps his fingers on the table for a few moments, eyes closed in thought. “Well, I think we might be able to at least tell which ones are being controlled or made angry.”

“Really?”

“I’ve noticied something when those more... focused Kaiju appear. The ones that don’t seem to have any reason for rampaging.” He explained, adjusting his glasses, “I’ve noticed when they appear - and disappear in Lidorias’ case - there’s this shadowy smoke around them.”

“When Cosmos calmed down Lidorias,” He continued, “He seemed to have pushed that shadowy smoke out of her. You probably can’t do it with the Cosmos Crystal because it’s a weaker replication of the power.”

“That.... That still doesn’t help me much.” It really didn’t. While knowing whether she’d be able to calm a Kaiju before she wasted the time and effort trying would be somewhat helpful, it wouldn’t be much. She still had to deal with those Kaiju. Regina was the strongest Kaiju she could summon to help, but even with times like today, when she was helpful, she was limited in time even more than Asahi.

So she wasn’t really sure how she’d deal with a Kaiju even slightly stronger than Pandon was.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to do it,” Tomomi said, giving her a smile and a pat on the shoulder, “One way or another. I think it’s just what you do.”

“I think it’s just what an Ultra’s _supposed to_ do.” Asahi grumbled, “Doesn’t mean that I can actually manage to do it.”

“Have some faith in yourself,” He was picking up his bag, no doubt heading out for work, “That’s the first step.”

Tomomi had left when Asahi finally thought about what he said to her. She wasn’t really sure how believing in herself was going to help her do anything. It sounded like a motivational poster. She could just see it, cheerful Grigio, with the words _Believe in yourself!_ plastered somewhere.

She pulls Regina’s Crystal out, turning it around in her hand and thinking. This whole thing would be so much easier if even one of her brothers was with her. Or better yet, it was one of them in her position. Both Katsumi and Isami would undoubtedly fair better than she would. And as much as she’d love to figure out how to go home... If there was someone making these Kaiju angry and attack the city, then could she really go home? Even if she had a way, she’d be leaving not just Kurokita, but this whole Earth, to deal with that on their own. And she was an Ultra, weren’t they supposed to protect people.

Not that any of that mattered if she couldn’t figure out a way to get home anyway.

The Crystal in her hand began to glow, startling her. What was it doing...? Then, the light from the Crystal began to take form behind it and soon, it solidified. The form landed in her arms and she realized it was Regina, albeit much smaller, maybe baby sized. She wasn’t sure, but she could tell what Regina was doing, cuddling into Asahi’s arms. Well, Asahi supposed that since Regina was offer in such a way, a little cuddling couldn’t hurt, even if she still thought it was weird that Regina could take form, but so small. It made her wonder if Bemstar could do it too, though she worried about him trying to eat something he shouldn’t.

They stayed like that for a while, but eventually the TV caught Asahi’s attention. It showed Pandon, who still appeared to be tied up from earlier, KPaRS was trying to move him. But then, a shadowy mist appeared, causing Asahi to lurch foward, knocking Regina off with a squeaky roar. That mist couldn’t be good. The her bindings began to crack and then suddenly shattered, leaving Pandon unrestrained. She was thankful to see the KPaRS seemed to be immediately retreating, but that could be good.

Then the mist began to take form, first into dark feathers and from there in continued, until Asahi could make out what she was looking at. The being was very... pink. All it’s color was some kind of pink. It had what looked like a jester’s hat and both of those theatre masks combined into one on it’s face. It had a tail coat that the tails were made of feathers, with feathers placed dangling from the hat, it’s gloves, it’s elbows, and it’s boots. Apparently what happens when you cross a jester with a bird. Or just a jester who loves feather boas a little too much.

Then, the giant spoke, “Oh little Ultrawoman...” His voice was taunting, but disguised in a playful way. It made Asahi shiver. “Come out, come out... I only want to talk.” Something told her that it wouldn’t be just a talk, but Asahi figured she didn’t have much choice. That guy just freed Pandon, who knows what could happen. She just hoped she had enough energy to deal with this.

Asahi transformed into Grigio, landing across from the being. He claps his hands together, and it she could see his face she was certain he’d be smiling. “Oh, that was oh so very quick! I thought that you might have spent some time hiding, after that fight with Pandon earlier, but I must have underestimated your... Heroicness...” He said the last word with immense distaste, almost spat it out. “I should introduce myself! I know who you are, but you haven’t a clue who I am!”

The man bows in an over the top way, like he was bowing for some performance he’d done, seemingly very smug, “I am Kenshin,” He stands up and points, tilting his head to the side slightly, “And I intend to hold the fate of both this Earth and your own in my hands.”

Grigio wasn’t really sure what to say about that. This guy was... eccentric? Well, he reminded her too much of someone else she’d seen before, though maybe a little less crazy - at least outwardly. But he seemed dangerous. Even if she wasn’t tired from her fight previously, she probably wouldn’t stand a chance against him. That wasn’t good.

“What are you trying to do?” She demanded, steeling her voice. She prayed no one could hear the slight waver.

But Kenshin seemed to be the kind who could simply sense uneasiness and fear, for he laughed at her. He tugs at his hat, then pulled it off and gestured with it, a large, sweeping motion. “I just said. I want to see this Earth be destroyed to bits! And once that’s happened, with you helpless to stop it, I’ll make your brothers watch as I destroy you, and then your Earth.” He takes a moment to laugh, bordering on maniacal, “Then I’ll kill them. It will be the perfect revenge!”

Revenge? Revenge against who? And why was he hellbent on bringing them pain? Was it just because they were Ultras? But he seemed pretty specific... “Revenge? Against who?”

He looked surprised for a moment, or as well as he could, given he wore a mask - maybe it was his face and it just didn’t move? That didn’t matter - but he seemed to quickly recover. “Of course!” He laughed, “I forgot, you may be Grigio and your brothers may be Rosso and Blu, but you’re really not _them._ You take their names, but you aren’t them.”

There was a bit to take in there. “What do you-?”

He cut her off, “Rosso and Blu died fighting Reugocyte,” it was a sneer. It wasn’t like he was wrong... Her brothers took their names when they gained the ability to become Ultras, but Grigio had learned from Saki that Rosso and Blu were her brothers names. “And Grigio? The _real_ Grigio? She died the against the same monster!”

...That was true also. Saki died trying to stop Reugocyte. And Saki really was the real Grigio more that Asahi was... Saki was certainly more deserving of the power to become an Ultra than Asahi was. Saki would have been able to deal with all these Kaijus easily.

“But Ultraman are such a tricky thing, and certainly that applies to even those three. They may be dead, but they aren’t _gone._ Goodness knows that would be _far_ _too easy_.” He practically sighed, stroking one of Pandon’s heads. “You see, their spirits still linger, in their transformation, in their Ultra forms, and I know the best way to get back at them!”

“By... Destroying two planets, which they’ve only been on one of?” Asahi was getting the impression that she was trying way too hard to understand what was going through Kenshin’s head. Really though, she figured if she distracted him he wouldn’t try anything. Not that she knew what she’d do when her timer ran out... Actually, she needed to hurry this up, especially if she still had to deal with Pandon. 

“But of course!” He sounded nearly giddy, “It’s the perfect plan and the perfect revenge!”

“How about no?” She summoned her bow and created an arrow, aiming at Kenshin. “Destroying planets is not happy! I’m not going to let you destroy either this Earth or my own!”

“Oh? You’re still going to try to fight me? Even though you’re weakened? I can’t decide if you’re brave or stupid. Well it doesn’t matter!” He laughed, “I can’t fathom why you’d want to protect an Earth that you’ve barely been on - it must be some stupid Ultra thing - but I think it’s time I take my leave.”

He spins, dodging the her arrow, than taps Pandon on the head, “I’ll be nice and not let Pandon be too troublesome. Bye bye!” A shadowy mist floated from Pandon, then returned to Kenshin, becoming feather like until it engulfed him and he disappeared.

Okay, so now she just had to deal with Pandon, who was standing there, both of it’s heads looking around, as if it was confused as to where it was. Then it roared and began to gather fire in it’s mouth. With Pandon no longer under Kenshin’s control, Grigio might be able to end this quickly with Cosmos’ Crystal. Given her timer chose that moment to start flashing, she decided that was her best bet.

Once the Crystal was activated, she ran at Pandon, and punched it, though it was as gently as she could. “Grigio Calming Punch!” The energy flowed into Pandon and the fire in it’s mouth disappeared. It looked around and then turned away, walking out of the city.

Thank goodness that worked.

\---

“What the hell was that!?” Jun was, understandably frustrated about what happened with Pandon. If her and Rin had been any closer when it broke free, they could very well have been burned, at best.

Fuyuko took a drink of water, then sighed, “I think,” She began, “That the Pandon was broken free by that... Bird jester thing.”

Chikako and Katsuhito had come in just moments before, yet Chikako wasted no time in proclaiming, “That bird-jester guy is clearly the big baddy!”

Rin, who too had been in the process of taking a drink of water, nearly spat it out. “Excuse me? What on Earth does ‘big baddy’ mean?”

Chikako shrugged, “It means, he’s the big dangerous bad guy behind all this stuff. Keep up.”

Katsuhito simply sighed, exasperated, “There’s no indication that there was ever a single thing behind the constant Kaiju rampages...”

“Oh before there wasn’t,” Everyone turned as Matsuoka entered, having returned from having a discussion with some of the Kaiju researchers. “But we’ve just learned something. Every time a Kaiju rampages for seemingly no reasons, after a few days, when they calm down, a shadowy mist comes out of them.”

“A shadowy mist like the one that guy - uh he said his name was Kenshin? - anyway that guy took from Pandon and appeared and disappeared in.” Fuyuko added, clearly catching on.”

Jun tilted her head back for a moment, “So now, we have a giant guy running around, making Kaiju angry, so he can... What?” She tried to recall Kenshin’s evil monologue, but it was rather long. “Destroy the planet?” Not to mention “destroy the planet” was such a cliche.

“So it seems,” Matsuoka hummed, “But we must have faith! Both in ourselves and in Grigio. She seems determined to protect us.”

“But,” Rin pointed out, “Even she has her limits. Before that blue Ultra showed up, she couldn’t beat the bird Kaiju and she barely stop Pandon earlier today.”

Matsuoka gave them all a smile, “I suppose we’ll all just have to do our best, Grigio included.”

\---

Zero hadn’t realized it at first, but the Minatos were all extremely worried about Gri- Asahi. He knew that they were worried, obviously. They were her family and he was pretty sure he at least understood that much about family. But they were a lot more worried than he had initially realized. Really, Ro- Katsumi and Bl- Isami had just learned to hide it a bit better, at least in Ultra form.

Or really in general, as he was beginning to find. The brothers seemed to try to keep there concern from causing them to freak out, at least too badly. Their mother seemed to be doing less of a job hiding her concern, but she was also working quite a bit. Their dad was probably the worse, constantly worrying. Zero wondered if that was normal for a parent, to be worried so much. He really wouldn’t know.

Their mom kept saying that she was trying to figure out where Gri-Asahi was. Which he figured was the main problem. Since they had him, he could easily bring her back, but he needed to know where she was. He himself had even looked around various dimensions, but he hadn’t found a trace.

So he could understand why they were so worried, Gri-Asahi just didn’t seem to be anywhere they looked. And she was a nice girl, cheerful and always trying to be nice and helpful. But somehow, he didn’t think she’d be the best off if there was something dangerous, wherever she is. Of course, there was no reason to assume that she was even in any trouble! But she could see why her family was worried.

Yet somehow, he hadn’t expected that he’d be in Ayaka very long, but everyday without any change continued to prove him wrong. He didn’t really know what else to do. If there even was anything else. Which was frankly very infuriating. Because Zero didn’t like not knowing what to do and even more, he didn’t like not being _able_ to do anything.

And then there was the Minatos themselves. It wasn’t really like there was something wrong with them or anything like that. It was just... even though they’re so worried about Gri-Asahi, they still acted so... Well they just got along in such a way and they acted certain ways and it... Well it reminded him of Leito and his family.

And once again, Zero found himself wondering about that. About how people always just seemed so happy when they were with their family. He couldn’t really say he quite got it. Sure, he understood that people were happy when they were around the people they loved, and those people were often family. He’d seen it with Leito and his family and he was seeing it now with the Minatos. Yet to Zero, it was still a very odd feeling. He didn’t really have a lot of “family”, he had his dad - from there he had some more family - but he really wouldn’t call his relationship with his dad particularly - not really good but certainly not bad. 

But really, if his inexperience with those sort of things mattered, the Minatos certainly didn’t care. Despite the fact that he had only met Gri-Asahi, Ro-Katsumi, and Bl-Isami once, and had never met their parents, they certainly didn’t treat him that way. Their dad, Ushio, cheerfully showed him his and Ro-Katsumi’s new designs for their shop. More than once their mom, Mio, had tried to explain whatever method her and Bl-Isami were using to try to find Gri-Asahi. Bl-Isami often added on, both of them very patient - despite the fact Zero had repeatedly told them he had no clue what they were talking about. The family always dragged him to eat dinner with them, smiling and talking and laughing.

Zero wondered if this was why Riku liked them so much. They were so friendly and welcoming, despite the situation. After all, Riku only spoke of the Minatos fondly. Which wasn’t horribly surprising given what he’d seen of them. Riku was precisely the person who would love how the Minatos seemed to treat people.

Actually, this had to be why Riku liked them so much.

Zero was thinking about all of those things and then some, Ro-Katsumi and Bl-Isami came running, heading out of the shop. “Something’s shown up in the city!” Was about all the context Ro-Katsumi gave him. The two were out the door with little else.

Zero stands, quickly following after them. He seemed to be just a step behind them, they’d transformed and he followed soon after. Soon, the three of them stood in the city, across from what the two brothers had seen before. It wasn’t really a Kaiju, at least as far as Zero could tell. The person - he supposed that was the best way to put it - was mostly pink in color, though in different shades. He had feathers on him, but wore a mask, one side a frown and other a smile. He stood, seeming to be impatient.

Until he noticed Rosso, Blu, and Zero. Then he straightened, placing a hand on his hip. “Well, it’s about time you showed up.” Then he seemed to notice that Zero was there, seemingly surprised. “Oh, and who is this here? Do the brothers rely so much on their little sister that without her they had to find someone else to help them?”

Zero was about to say something, but before he could, Blu questioned, “Who are you? Do you have something to do A-Grigio just disappearing like that?” There was a hostility in his voice, which Zero thought was understandable. Though he wasn’t quite sure if this guy had anything to do with Grigio’s disappearance.

“You don’t remember...?” The feather man sounded hurt, before he seemed to realize or remember something, “Oh, of course not! You two never knew at all! Well then, introductions are in order! I am Kenshin!”

“What are you even talking about?” Rosso sounded very wary, but he also sounded somewhat confused. Which, Zero was pretty confused himself. It sounded like this guy, Kenshin, knew who Rosso and Blu and Grigio were, but they didn’t know who he was.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just here to warn you,” Kenshin seemed oddly relaxed, given he was standing across from three Ultras. He even seemed familiar with Rosso and Blu, though something told Zero that Kenshin didn’t recognize him. “Because I have a plan, and you’re not going to be able to stop it.”

Finally, Zero figured he should probably say something, “You do understand that their probably going to try to stop you, right? And if they need help, I’ll help them.”

Kenshin seemed offended, “You may try, but you won’t succeed!” He paused for a moment, before adding, “...Tell me, what would you do if something happened to your dear little sister...?”

“What did you do with her?” Kenshin’s query seemed to be enough to set off Rosso’s anger, “If you’ve hurt her-!”

He was cut off by Kenshin’s laugh. “Oh, she seems to be doing fine, for now.” He waved his hand dismissively, “Though I can’t imagine it’ll stay that way. She’s certainly determined, but even the most determined can be broken.”

“I swear-!” Blu wasn’t given the chance to finish, as Kenshin cut him off too.

“Enough of this!” He spun around and bowed, “I should be going. But don’t worry, we’ll meet again. Though I can’t say it will be as... peaceful.”

And in a storm of dark feathers, he was gone.


	11. Purse Your Dream  Beyond the Galaxy, Play the Stardust Symphony! Let it Ring Out!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is this grouchy stabby man?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timing for this chapter is unintentionally really good.

Despite the fiasco last week, what with Kenshin’s sudden appearance and Pandon’s fire, Asahi was trying to relax herself, at least a bit. Which was why she was at a cafe, with some hot chocolate this time, since hot chocolate always makes her feel better! With lots and lots of marshmallows too! Plus she has some cookies, which makes it all even better.

Especially since, despite her attempts to relax, she still had a lot on her mind. Because she may be the type of person to often try to be positive, but that didn’t mean she was naive or stupid. She knew that Kenshin was serious, she didn’t think anyone could miss that. And she knew that she needed to be prepared, because it wasn’t going to get any easier. Kenshin wanted revenge, and even though her and her brothers weren’t the Rosso, Blu, and Grigio that Kenshin seemed to want revenge at, to him, it clearly didn’t matter.

Now she was spending too much time thinking about all this when she meant to be relaxing. What’s something she could do to take her mind off of it... Maybe she could just like, look at people? Isn’t that a thing that some people do?

There was a a woman and a little boy, probably mother and son. Two teenagers and a little boy, the little boy was being given a cookie. What appeared like a couple, who were sitting across from each other. There was a group of teen aged girls, laughing about something. The man who just walked in stood out as he was wearing a suit, but he had a magenta vest. Then there was a older man who was sipping a cup of coffee. 

...Okay this was actually pretty boring. Sure, it managed to distract her for a while, but it was still boring, regardless. She took another drink of her hot chocolate, finding the cup disappointingly empty. Well, it seemed she needed to find something else to do. No point in sticking around if she was done with her cheerful hot chocolate.

\---

Asahi was sitting with Regina in her arms when Tomomi walks in, he seems to be busy, rushing around. “Is everything okay?” She asked, watching as he dug around his bag and pulled out a notepad and pen.

He was scribbling something on the paper when he responded, “Asahi, I need you to look into something for me,” He ripped the sheet off his notepad and handed it to her, “There’s some rumors that there’s some aliens on the outskirts of town. As a journalist I’m supposed to report any of them to the Alien Assistance Department, but I don’t have time to look into this right now.”

“And you want me to?” Regina grumbles at Asahi’s attention being pulled from her.

“You’re goods with people and you’re friendly,” Tomomi nods, “I hope you don’t mind...”

“No! No! It’s fine!” She quickly assures, “I was just a bit... surprised! But yeah, I can check it out. After all, it might be nothing.”

“Great,” Tomomi was already almost out the door as he responded, “I’ll see you later, try to keep out of trouble!” He was gone pretty quickly. Asahi looked down at the note he’d scribbled, it had a couple addresses. Well, it seemed Asahi would be playing detective today. Cue the jazzy detective music, then?

\---

In investigating the first few addresses Tomomi wrote down, Asahi found nothing particularly unusual. Certainly no aliens. Which just meant she was asking around pretty ordinary places and pretty ordinary people. Bright side, one of the addresses an ice cream shop, so she got some ice cream, but that’s about the most interesting part. But she still had one address to check out, which she quickly came to find was what appeared to be an abandoned ware house. She would honestly be surprised if there was anyone there at all.

Still, Asahi was frankly a bit hesitant to actually go in there. Because really, who wanted to just waltz into an abandoned warehouse? But still, she did tell Tomomi that she’d look, and she really didn’t want to just leave if there _was_ anyone in there. From what Tomomi had told her, the Alien Assistance Department, often abbreviated to AAD for short, had the sole purpose of helping any peaceful aliens that came to Earth. And you didn’t have to be a genius to figure out that if there were any aliens in an abandoned warehouse, they were either not peaceful and plotting or in need of some assistance.

So Asahi took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, walking in. As far as abandoned warehouses went, she thought that this one was oddly, well, filled. While she had never been in an abandoned warehouse before, one might expect it to be much more barren. Less boxes and boxes of who knows what on top of metal boxes and boxes of who else knows what. Maybe a bit more dusty? And certainly more quiet.

Wait, quiet? That would hardly be the word Asahi would use to describe this place. While not horribly loud, she could hear the sound of what seemed to be a scuffle further into the warehouse. People hitting people and people hitting the ground, wall, and boxes.

Well maybe there was something like a street fight. Perhaps just some moody teenagers solving their problems through violence. Never mind that it wasn’t even lunch, people could skip school if they wanted to. Except there was another sound. Metal on metal and probably metal on concrete, so probably the ground. Okay, so maybe a few of them brought a knife.

Still, she figured she should probably double check, just in case. She’d just stay behind some boxes or something, they would probably be distracted, so as long as she did nothing to catch their attention, she would probably be fine. Besides, she could probably run, maybe have Regina or Bemstar startle them.

Yeah, this will be fine. At least, that’s what she told herself as she, as quietly as possible, made her way towards the source of the sounds. She peeked over on of the stacks of crates that weren’t as tall, finally seeing the source of the commotion.

There were several aliens, most of which were on already on the ground, hopefully unconscious, but there were still two still standing. Of those two, one seemed to have some kind of knife in hand, though he didn’t stay standing for long. He was soon knocked to the ground - again, hopefully unconscious - by the man they were fighting. The man had a sword and appeared to be wearing a black suit, though Asahi thought she saw a flash of a sort of magenta-y color and... wait a minute. It feels like she’s saw this man before, except for maybe minus the sword?

Maybe she saw him when she was at the coffee shop or something yesterday? Well it didn’t really matter, honestly. The man had soon knocked the last alien down, seemingly satisfied, leaving Asahi with only so much time to decide what she should do.

Firstly, this man just seemed to have taken out like, ten aliens and has a sword. Secondly, she wasn’t really much of a fighter either way, so she really didn’t want to get this guy’s attention, especially since she had no clue if he’d attack her or not. Thirdly, she had no way of knowing if the aliens were going to cause trouble or not. Fourthly, she really should just try to go get help for those aliens or something, if they weren’t violent or anything.

Of course, it wouldn’t be in her luck to actually have the time to make a decision, as the man, seemed to have noticed her and - when did he even turn around? Whatever, Asahi tried to duck her head behind the boxes, hoping the man hand’t saw her, though she didn’t think that was very likely, given she hadn’t even noticed him turning around.

He pretty much confirmed what she thought when he spoke, “You know, hiding isn’t a very helpful action when I’ve already seen you.” Asahi’s mind raced as she tried to decide what would be her best course of action. She could run, though she didn’t know a lot about this guy and he gave her an... odd feeling. She wasn’t entirely sure if she’d even be able to out run him. No matter what she did she’d probably have to come out from behind the boxes.

“Well,” She began, slowly raising her head up, now able to eye the man suspicious, “You have a sword and I assume you just fought like, ten aliens. And won.Not to mention that you don’t really seem like the friendly type...” Not that something like that had ever stopped her before, but Saki didn’t have a sword. Just the ability to summon Kaijus.

The man holds the sword, blade facing downward, as a bit of a smirk creeped its way onto his lips. He seemed smug. “Hmm... I think you’ll be fine. I don’t have any reason to waste my time with you.”

Her head peeks a little higher, her chin resting on the top of the box, “And you did with them?” She raises a hand so that she can point to the aliens on the ground.

The man looks down at them, as though surprised, whether by her question or because he’d already forgotten about the aliens on the ground wasn’t clear. He shrugged, looking almost a bit amused. “It would seem that way,”

“It would seem?” The more this man talked, the more Asahi began to wonder just who he was. Something really told her that he wasn’t an ordinary man. “Either you beat them up for no reason or you have a reason. It’s not that complicated.”

“Oh really?” The man laughed, “You seem to have it figured out pretty well, why don’t you tell me?”

Asahi huffed, okay, seriously. Just who was this guy? “Well, hurting people for no reason isn’t happy! Hurting people in general isn’t very happy, but at least if they’re going to hurt other people it’s better because you’re going to keep them from hurting people.” She had a frown - well her brothers would probably call it a pout, but it was really a frown. “But you also don’t really seem like the type who needs much of a reason to just, try and pick a fight or something. You’re clearly pretty grouchy.”

“Pretty grouchy?” The man seemed annoyed by that part of her observation, “And what all that about things not being happy or whatever?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” Asahi said, “So why are you here? Why beat up these aliens?”

The man seemed to scoff, “I don’t see why you need to know that.” He waltzes his way closer to where Asahi was. She stands up, moving away from the boxes, trying to keep some space between her and the man. He may not have tried anything yet, but she still didn’t entirely trust him. Something was off. “Though _I_ am curious. Why is someone like you here?”

“Someone like me?” She asked, trying to conceal her wavering voice, hoping if anything, her confusion was more obvious. She’d saw the tail end of that fight, and frankly if she had to fight someone like this, outside of Ultra form, she wouldn’t stand half the chance she would as Asahi.

The man smirked, “Why, an Ultra of course,” Asahi gasped, but the man continued on, gesturing towards her, “Especially one who’s clearly rather, well... Meek.”

“Meek? I’m not - I’m not meek!”

The man laughed, “Maybe not, but you certainly don’t seem like the type to just... go rushing into a fight.” Then he walks closer, “Maybe that makes you better than some of them. Maybe that means you put some thought in, before you go into a fight. Maybe that just means you’re weaker and can’t afford to rush into a fight.”

“Who- Who are you?!” The man was far too close now, even though he wasn’t really. But with every word out of his mouth, Asahi found herself becoming more and more uneasy. And how did he know she was an Ultra?

With a smug grin and a chuckle, the man finally introduced himself, “I am Jugglus Juggler,” He then points to her, “And you - You are Ultrawoman Grigio.”

“Wha- What- How!?” Asahi finds herself backing up again, though now she’s backed into a stack of boxes.

The man - Mr. Juggler, she supposed - seemed to just have a permanent smug smile on his face. “Oh, I’ve just learned to tell these things,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Mr. Juggler hummed, “Don’t you have other things to worry about?” He turned around and walked over towards the aliens on the floor. He nudges one with his foot, “Like these aliens, maybe. Or possibly a Kaiju. Maybe someone summoning some Kaijus? I’m certain there must be better uses of your time.”

Asahi watches him, wondering. Mr. Juggler... It sounded like he’d met an Ultra before, maybe more than once? He was just so strange. “I think we’d notice if there was a Kaiju. They have a tendency to be loud and cause a commotion. You know, being very not happy by trying to destroy part of the city.”

Mr. Juggler seemed disinterested now, looking off in a different direction. It made Asahi huff, annoyed by how the man seemed to have just lost interest in the conversation entirely. “Fine,” she said, “I figured out what’s here, I’m just gonna head home. It’s almost time for lunch anyway. No point in missing it over a grouchy old man.”

Even though Mr. Juggler’s back was to her, she could see him stiffen slightly at her comment. “Grouchy. Old. Man?”

“Yeah!” She chirped, cheerful. An easy feat, since she was very good at being happy. Mr. Juggler’s annoyance seemed to increase. “I mean, I’ve only met one other person who was nearly as grouchy as you seem to be, and that was only because she was lonely!”

“Right, well as you said, no need to miss lunch because of me.” He seemed to be gritting his teeth slightly in response, “A. Grouchy. Old. Man.”

Asahi had figured out by this point that she wasn’t going to get much more from him. He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk to her much, let alone answer many of her questions. So she’d just have to do what she’d said before and leave. Which was fine, she’d found that there were aliens in this warehouse, so she did what she set out to do. 

And thus, besides this incredibly odd man, there was no reason that she couldn’t return to Tomomi’s apartment and eat lunch. Besides, the other day she promised Bemstar he could try some apple, and it would be rude of her to keep him waiting too much longer. So with a shrug she turned around and began to walk out of the warehouse.

She was halfway between the warehouse the road when she noticed that there was a breeze - which was only strange because it was quick and ended quickly. and something landed on her shoulder. She went to brush it off before she froze. She grabbed it, bringing it in front of her. A dark magenta colored feather, one she was positive she’d seen before, not even all that long ago.

Behind her there was a laugh, a very smug laugh. Asahi spins around, but doesn’t see anything, Of course not, she turns around again and see precisely who she’d looking for. She’d just forgotten that he needed a lot of space. Standing, or more accurately leaning against a building, was Kenshin, who gave off as smug of an air as he did when he first appeared.

This... wasn’t good. She might not be tired or hurt this time, but there was still no way that she’d be able to so much as fight him off, let alone defeat him. And he had to know she was here, so it wasn’t like he was just going to putter around and do nothing.

“Oh Grigio!” Kenshin called, cupping his hands where his mouth probably would be, if it could be seen. “I know where you are, they’re no point in delaying. Come out so we can play!”

It didn’t seem like she had much choice in the matter. Right as she was about to pull out her medal and Gyro, Mr. Juggler walked out. He looked up, noticing Kenshin and narrowed his eyes, though his posture still seemed to be relaxed. But it was Mr. Juggler’s appearance that prompted a change in Kenshin’s behavoir.

“Oh! You’re not alone! I’m sorry, I didn’t know...” He didn’t finish. He seemed to have become distracted by something. He leaned forward, as if to get a closer look at Mr. Juggler, a feat certainly impossible at that size. “Hm... Just who are you...?”

Beside her, Mr. Juggler scoffed, “That’s not something someone like _you_ needs to know.”

It was at that moment Asahi chose to question if she should just transform. Because she didn’t know much about Mr. Juggler, but somehow, she figured Kenshin’s interest in him - for whatever reason - was probably not good.

But Kenshin didn’t really give her a lot of time to think, as he spoke again, “So curious... Certainly not human, no, something far more evil...” He was muttering, though he might not have been aware of how loud he really way. He seemed moments away from losing himself in his thoughts. “But certainly no longer evil enough...”

“Excuse me?” Mr. Juggler sounded offended, but it was unclear why. Was it because he was being called evil or because he was being called not evil enough? “What might you know about - about being evil?” Well she supposed that answered the question.

“Hm? Hm?” Kenshin seemed to snap out of the near distraction that he had been bringing himself too. “Oh, I think I know more than you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” It was then that Asahi began to wonder if she was witnessing the reason that you never put two people who clearly have... questionable morals in the same vicinity.

“Those aliens? You only fought them because they posed a threat to this Earth, even if they were an annoyance to you. Even now, you’re not really doing all that much evil. You’re just annoyed with me. If anything, you seem more... Heroic, honestly.” Then Kenshin shrugged, “I can’t even imagine you’re all that strong.”

Mr. Juggler gave no warning before the appearance of his human form changed as he lurched forward. Jumping and growing, Asahi could see what he looked like now. More like a monster, orange and black, his sword in hand. “Not strong?! We’ll see about that!”

Kenshin shrugged as Mr. Juggler threw himself at him. Turning around, Kenshin quickly became a cloud of feathers, flying upwards out of Mr. Juggler’s reach. “That’s nice...” He said, increasing the distance between them, “But I think I’d rather leave you with a... parting gift.” Coming from his cloud of feathers was a dark could that soon transformed into a Kaiju. The Kaiju was actually pretty comical looking, all red, it’s head appearing like a bowling ball, one hand like a bunch of tentacles and other like a scythe, it’s body appearing like a cloak.

As Kenshin’s cloud disappeared, leaving Mr. Juggler just with the Kaiju, Kenshin called out, “Have fun with Nova!”

“Just a Nova?” Mr. Juggler asked, aiming his sword at the Kaiju, Nova, “Well, this ought to be simple.”

A statement that was quickly proved wrong by Nova swinging his whip like arm, which hit and grasped at Mr. Juggler, than bringing him closer, so that Nova could slice at him with it’s other arm. Mr. Juggler attempted to cut at the whip like arm, but didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Would you like some help!?” Asahi called out. She didn’t exactly like how this fight was going, but she thought she ought to give him the option, since Mr. Juggler was taking this attack so personally.

“No!” He yelled in response. She couldn’t say she was expecting it, but she wasn’t horribly surprised. “I can handle it! I don’t need help from you!”

While she was skeptical, she figured she’d let him try. Even if he couldn’t beat Nova, she could always jump in and help later. Which was turning out to be a lot sooner than one might expect. It seemed Nova had one more trick up it’s sleeve, firing off balls of what appeared to be fire, that exploded even more when they hit Mr. Juggler. But with the firing of the attack, Nova was gone, leaving Mr. Juggler clearly tired and probably a bit hurt.

He shrunk down, returning first to human size, than to human form, sword still in hand. Asahi moves over to him, approaching him somewhat warily, at least because he still had his sword handy. Plus, he looked kinda angry.

“Are you... are you okay?” 

Mr. Juggler whirled around, facing her with a frown, “Am I okay?” He spoke harshly, “Clearly not. Even you can see that.”

Asahi winced, bringing a hand up to tug at the end of her hair, “I offered to help...”

He scoffed, “You think you would have fared better?” He asked, annoyed, “You, who clearly can fight far less.”

Then he laughed, “If I struggled to so much as fight Nova, then why would you be able to do better?”

Asahi gave him a blank look for a moment, before replacing it with a smile, “Like you said,” She grinned, “I’m an Ultra!”

Mr. Juggler growled, “Oh, you’re such a brat.”

“Hey!”

\---

“Uh, captain?” One of the members of KPaRS who was in charge of monitoring for Kaiju activity had been sitting, doing his job when a curious blip popped up. Accessing the camera’s in the area, he sees that the strange bird-jester-whatever from before had appeared again. Before he could even say anything, though, another Kaiju like man appeared, and then the bird-jester-kaiju disappeared, being replaced by a red Kaiju. Then he was able to speak as the two fought.

“Yes?”

“There’s uh, Kaiju activity on the outskirts of town but uh...” He glanced at the screen again, “Hold on, I’m going to show you.” Matsuoka watched what unfolded on the screen.

Off to one side Jun watched before speaking, “What the hell is that - that thing fighting the - which is even - are they both Kaijus.”

Then one of the other members spoke up, “The red one is a Kaiju known as Nova, we’re unable to identify the other.”

Rin looked to Matsuoka, “Should we head out?” But before he could answer, Nova had attacked and disappeared, with the other Kaiju following soon after. 

Everyone in the room stared at the screen for a moment before Matsuoka spoke, “That was... something.”

Fuyuko looked to him, “That other... Kaiju, it was fighting Nova. Does that mean it’s on our side - like Grigio?”

He hummed in thought, “Perhaps,” He said, “Perhaps not. Only time will tell, I suppose.”

Somehow that didn’t make anyone in the room feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write Juggler getting beat by Nova? Yes. Why? Because I can.


	12. The World is Waiting for You, The Warrior of Light Who Will Light Up the Dark Night!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juggler and Asahi have some talks and guess who shows up. Meanwhile, the Minatos and Zero at least get confirmation that Asahi’s alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had too much fun with this chapter.

Asahi followed Mr. Juggler as he briskly walked out of the warehouse. He seemed to be ignoring her, a fact that irritated her greatly. “Hey!” She was jogging to catch up, “What’s this all about?”

He didn’t stop, but he did peek over his shoulder at her, “What are you taking about?”

“I mean - where are you going?” She asked, but then added, unable to stop herself, “Are you moping because you lost to that Nova?”

Mr. Juggler stopped, then spun around, bending slightly to face her, surprisingly close, “I am not moping.” He said, “I do not mope.”

Asahi gives him a smile, “It’s okay if you’re a bit down or worried, if Nova shows up again, I can help!”

The scowl on Mr. Juggler’s face only deepened, “No.”

“No what?”

He turned around, straightening, and began walking away again, “I don’t need your help.”

She didn’t really get it. So he had some trouble - okay maybe a lot of trouble - with Nova. She’s had plenty of trouble with fighting some Kaiju’s before, it’s nothing really to be embarrassed about. So why did it seem like Mr. Juggler was so upset about it?

“Alright,” She said, “But if Nova shows up, are you going to insist on fighting it alone, or will you just let me?”

He seemed to get a bit annoyed at her continuing to bug him. Or at least, that’s probably how he saw it. But as Asahi saw it, she was just being concerned for this man. Especially given she was pretty sure he might try to fight Nova if it showed up again. And he’d probably get his butt kicked, again.

She also noticed that he pointedly did not answer her question. Now, it didn’t take a genius to figure out why he didn’t. It probably meant that he was, as she was expecting him to, planning to fight Nova again. Assuming Nova showed up while he was around, though something told her he’d stick around, if only because he couldn’t stand having lost like that. But, then again, she could be wrong. Maybe if Nova showed up again he’d leave it to her, since he’d made it pretty clear that he didn’t want her help.

And he still kept walking. Honestly, at this point he was just ignoring her, like he made that pretty clear given he just kept walking and wasn’t even trying to respond to her question. How rude. Well, Asahi would just have to tell him how rude he was being. She jogs to catch up with him, because he seemed to be walking rather fast and took longer steps than she did.

“Really,” She called out, “What’s wrong? You’re being awfully rude.”

Mr. Juggler stop or so much as make a movement to acknowledge her, despite the fact that she had jogged up beside him. He just kept facing ahead, maybe even trying to move faster. “There is nothing wrong. And I don’t care about being rude.” He said, “If you care so much about people, go find someone who might appreciate your concern.”

She huffed, “Has anyone ever told you about how you’re so… not happy?”

“It’s safe to say you’re the first.” Mr. Juggler spared her a slight glance, “Though that might just be because few else are foolish enough to try.”

It took her a moment to realize what he’d said, “Hey!” She let out an indignant cry, “Someone as rude as you must not have any friends.”

“I don’t,” He said, though he didn’t seem at all fazed by the fact, “And I do not want any.”

“Why not?” Mr. Juggler had finally stopped walking, instead choosing to lean against a fence. He faced her now, looking more irritated than anything. Still, Asahi pushed on, “Friends are nice.”

“They’re not, really,” He looked off towards a different direction, clearly not all that interested in the conversation. “All they bring is more problems. But you do seem like the type to think otherwise.”

He looked at her, a smug look working its way onto his face, “You’re an Ultra after all, and you Ultras do so love those friends of yours.” He shrugged, “Seems like you’re just giving yourself another weakness. But I’ve long since decided Ultras never really make sense.”

“’Never really make sense’…?” Asahi echoed, “I don’t follow?”

She looks at him for a moment before shrugging, “I would think people like you, who are always so unhappy and alone would make less sense.” She watched him before continuing, “I mean, I was friends with someone who was… Kinda like you. Not really all that happy. She didn’t have friends when I met her, she’d had some before, but not then. At the time, she was focused on this big dangerous thing that was heading towards Earth. But she still seemed to like having a friend.”

And she finds her hand slipping into her pocket, pressing Regina’s Crystal into her palm. “So I can’t imagine that you really enjoy being alone.” She continued, “But then again, I guess I can’t really say for sure.”

Mr. Juggler was silent for a few seconds after she finished speaking, he seemed to be regarding her. Then, with no warning, he began to laugh. “Oh, you Ultras really are all the same. How long did it take for you to think up that one?” He didn’t really stop laughing, just pausing to talk. “I will admit, I haven’t heard _that one_ before, but really. You’ve heard one heroic spiel, you’ve heard them all.” And the laughing continued.

Asahi drops her smile, an annoyed frown making its way onto her face. “Oh sure,” She grumbled, “Now don’t go busting a spleen in amusement.”

That did get his laughing to start to die down, though it still took a bit. The smug look ono his face was still there, too, which kind of annoyed her. “Ah, there it is.”

“There what is?”

He pushed himself off the fence, leaning down to meet her eyes, “The bitterness.” He responded, “I was starting to think you were all sunshine and rainbows.”

It took a lot of will for Asahi not to take a step back. Mr. Juggler was weird, yes, but there was something else about him, something that rubbed her the wrong way. But it was also in a way… not exactly familiar but also is, in a distant and vague way. She pushed a smile onto her face and asked, “What do you even mean?”

And he did move back a bit, if only to spin around so that his back was now facing her. But unlike earlier when he turned away from her, he didn’t seem to be trying to end the conversation. No, he’d seemed to have stopped trying to do that a while ago. Now, he was just being… dramatic. “That smile you try so hard to keep up… Just how much of it is an act?” He paused, like he wanted her to respond. When she began to do so, he simply continued, cutting her off. “Or... What about your power as an Ultra? That wasn’t always the power of an Ultra, was it?”

While there was a lot to unpack there, the main thing that started to making Asahi freak was _he knew there wasn’t always an Ultrawoman Grigio._ Which was an odd thing for him to know. And she didn’t really know how he knew that. Nor did she know why he brought it up. But no matter how much she wanted to question him, or to even say something at all, the words weren’t coming. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

“You and I are a lot more similar than you think,” He continued, turning back to face her. The smug smile was still on his face. “We both were passed up to be an Ultra, only to get a second rate, monstrous power. The only difference is you eventually became an Ultra.”

What was he talking about…? A lot of what he was saying there didn’t make all that much sense. Unless he thought she, was Saki? Or rather, thought she was the first person to hold this power? That was possible. Maybe. There were other things that didn’t really make sense, but maybe that was because she didn’t really know how Saki got ahold of this power in the first place.

“I think…” She managed, forcing her smile, “I think you’re a bit mixed up.” It came out quieter than she would have liked.

“Oh, am I?” Thankfully, Mr. Juggler backed up, at least a bit. He stilled looked smug. It made her wonder if he had two emotions. Grouchy and smug. “Please, do enlighten me.”

“Well, Saki was Grigio before me, she was the one with ability to become monsters.” Asahi explained, taking a deep breath “When she, when she died, she gave me her Gyro and Crystals. When I tried to help my brothers and Ri-Geed, I was able to become Grigio.”

While Mr. Juggler took in what she said, he had a strange look on his face. What Asahi was thinking was a cross between thoughtful and bored, but she wasn’t really sure. It was sometimes hard to figure out what emotion he was showing, as she was finding.

“One way or another,” He finally spoke, “You aren’t a lot like your brothers. Ultrawoman or not, there’s something about you that makes you different.”

Asahi liked to think that she was pretty good at dealing with all the things that might come when a day was becoming less and less happy. Grouchy people, saying whatever it might be grouchy people might say, especially in the effort to get under her skin. But somehow, Mr. Juggler was doing particularly well at saying things that got to her, and she wasn’t really sure she was going to be able to continue taking it.

“What does it matter?” She barely restrains from snapping at him. She couldn’t let him see that he was bugging her. That would pretty much be letting him win. “Different or not, I can still help people.”

He laughed, “Oh, you certainly can,” He turned his back to her, heading to leave, “But I assure you, I need no such help. Leave Nova to me. You can go fret about those little friends you care so much about.”

“You literally got beat up by Nova like, half an hour ago!”

“Details!” He was actually a bit away now. As it turned out, he could walk pretty fast when he wanted to. Asahi didn’t feel like chasing him down at the moment. “I won’t lose again!”

Somehow, Asahi doubted that. And she’d only met Mr. Juggler maybe half an hour ago.

\---

“And honestly, the nerve of that guy! He was so rude and acted like he knew everything!” Asahi was back at Tomomi’s apartment. He’d returned about half an hour before and had spent the entire time quietly listening to her rant. He didn’t seem to mind, instead offering a her a wry smile as he watched her sit on the couch, sock clad feet tucked under her, as she tightly hugged Regina. “Not to mention I have no clue how he even knew I was Grigio in the first place!”

Tomomi tilted his head, “Did you ask?”

“I don’t think it would have mattered. I’m not sure he actually answered any of my questions.” She groaned, “He’s so weird. And he’s probably gonna try to fight Nova again, so I don’t even know what I’m going to do there.”

“You’ll probably have to fight Nova either way, so you can at least do that.” Tomomi tried to make her feel better, but he seemed to be able to tell it wouldn’t necessarily be all that helpful. “Unlike him though, you can go into that fight at least somewhat prepared.”

She tilts her head in thought, “Yeah I guess you’re right.” She shifts her position, not even batting an eye when a small version of Bemstar appeared and worms his way between her arms, next to Regina. “So, what do we know about Nova?”

He gives her a smile before pulling out a notepad, “Nova’s most obvious threats are it’s whip arm and it’s blade arm, but beyond that it also has the ability to fire those exploding balls.” He frowns at his notes, “We’re not exactly sure what else it can do, we know it’s called the Saucer Alien, but that’s most likely because when it flies it appears to have a disk like shape.”

Asahi hums, “Honestly, it looks more like one of those bedsheet ghosts, but red and with a balloon on its head or something.”

Tomomi nods in agreement, “It does, but a Nova was found to responsible for more than one UFO sighting, so that’s what they chose to call it.” He sighed, “Really, we only have one recorded Nova, so we don’t know much about it.”

She shrugs, “That’s fine,” She said, giving Bemstar some pets on the head, “I’ve worked with not knowing anything about the monster. At least knowing something about Nova will be able to help me deal with it.” Regina growled, butting into Bemstar. It seemed she wanted head pets too. Soon, Asahi had to remove her arms from around them as they broke out into a fight. Of course, one good hit on them from the other caused them to disappear, their Crystals landing gently on the couch. Really, she would have given both of them pets if they gave her the chance.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Tomomi smiles at her. With something of a found sigh, Asahi picks up Regina and Bemstar’s Crystals, returning them to her pocket.

She brings a smile onto her face, “We’ll stop that Nova if it shows up again.” She said it with such certainty, it was easy to pretend she was as confident as she sounded. But really, what did she have to worry about? Sure, Mr. Juggler couldn’t beat Nova, but he was also fighting alone. With or without his help, she still had Regina and Bemstar, that was far better than what he was trying.

Yeah, it would be fine. She would make sure of it. Her, Regina, and Bemstar. She didn’t have to fight alone, anymore. Even without her brothers.

Across from her Tomomi laughed. It wasn’t like Mr. Juggler’s, it wasn’t mocking or condescending or anything like that. He wasn’t making fun of her. Tomomi’s laugh was much more true, it was happy, joyful, but even the reason he was laughing was better. He was happy that she was so determined that she’d decided they’d be able to win. And that in turn, it made her happy. Truly happy. Because he believed in her.

Not in Grigio, but in Asahi.

Because here, it felt like everyone only believed in Grigio. Asahi was no one to them, at best a name they’d heard. But Grigio? At this point, she’d be surprised if there was anyone in this city who hadn’t heard of her.

So people believed in Grigio. But Tomomi was the only one who believed in Asahi. For some reason, that very small detail made all the difference.

\---

Nova didn’t appear until the next day. Or rather, Mr. Juggler appeared again the next day. He was in the form he was in when he tried to fight Nova before. At first, Asahi was confused why he showed up. Until he went and began to tell Nova to show itself.

Either he was really just going to bait Nova out there, or Nova was hiding. And really, she was betting on the former. Mr. Juggler seemed like the type of person, based on the conversations she had with him yesterday, whose pride would not let them leave that loss as just a loss. But really, did he have to just stand in the middle of the city trying to get it to show up? Especially since it was one of Kenshin’s monster, or at least it was being controlled by him.

Asahi shook her head, sighing before transforming into Grigio. “What are you doing?” She asked, hands on her hips.

Mr. Juggler turned to face her before responding in a mock pleasant tone, “I’m trying to make candy canes –“ Then in a much more annoyed voice, “- What does it look like I’m doing?”

Grigio sighed, “It looks like you’re trying to get Nova to show up again. Which, given how your fight with it yesterday went, doesn’t seem like the most… happy idea.”

He turned away from her, “There you go again with all that ‘happy’ stuff.” He nearly groaned, “Anyway, I’ll do as I please. I don’t see why you care.”

“Because if Nova shows up and you can’t beat it, there’s just a Kaiju in the city and guess who’ll have to deal with it!” Then she points at herself, “Me!”

“Well, it won’t be a problem,” Mr. Juggler stated, “Because I won’t lose.”

She takes a deep breath before crossing her arms, “We’ll see.” They didn’t really have to wait very long, as a few moments later, Nova appeared in a cloud of dark feathers and smoke. Right on cue, it seemed.

Mr. Juggler adjusts his hold on his sword, slipping into a fighting stance. “About time,” He said before lunging at Nova.

To his credit, he managed to slash at Nova before it launched it’s exploding ball missiles at him. After that attack though, Mr. Juggler got shrunk down to human size, tossed to the ground. Grigio just sighed, because honestly, she could have predicted that would happen. And now, here she was, having to deal with Nova.

Great.

As soon as Mr. Juggler was dealt with, Nova turned it’s attention to her, so now was the time to fight, it seemed. First, Grigio figured she’d see how she could do against Nova, then she’d get Regina and Bemstar out to help if needed. Which it was probably needed, but she wanted to see for sure. Something in her just really did, even if it didn’t really make sense.

She summoned her bow, ready to launch an arrow, when she heard someone land next to her. It couldn’t have been Mr. Juggler; especially given how he really didn’t want her help _and_ had just gotten his butt kicked not a minute before. She glances over, then has to stop and turn.

“Did I miss too much?” She recognized that voice! She recognized that Ultra! He had more black than a lot of Ultras, which helped her recognize him quickly, but most distinctly, he had a round color timer that made a ring. It was Orb. She’d met him a couple times before.

But what was he doing here?

Nova made sound that brought Grigio’s attention back to it. It swung it’s whip like arm at them, causing them to dodge out of the way. She called out to Orb in response, “Not really! Just some grouchy sword guy getting beat for a second time by Nova here.”

“Grouchy sword guy?”

She fired a barrage of arrows at Nova, making it stagger back. “Yeah, really rude too.” It fired it’s exploding ball missiles at her, which she blocked with a shield. “Purposely got Nova to show up, I think his pride got hurt yesterday when he lost to it.”

“Really rude too…” He moved towards Nova and threw a few punches at it.

“Oh yeah. He so got really upset when he was called not very evil and heroic.” She added, kicking Nova away when it got too close for her liking. “It was what made him end up fighting Nova in the first place.”

Orb hummed he swung his sword at Nova, landing a few hits on it. In turn, Nova swung it’s scythe arm at him, though he stopped it using his sword. Then Nova swung it’s other arm at him, managing to hit him with his whip. Grigio fired a few arrows at Nova, which allowed Orb to get away from it.

“Right, Grigio, I think we should be able to finish it now,” Orb said, “We just need one last good attack.”

“Got it!” She cheered, “Grigio Shot!”

“Origium Ray!”

Nova was knocked back, then exploded, a dark cloud flowing out of it and disappearing. From it, a Crystal came flying, which Grigio caught easily. She looked at it, it had Nova on it. So it was pretty easy to tell what it was. It seemed she had another Kaiju Crystal to work with. Grigio and Orb met back up as humans, because Asahi had a couple questions for him.

“Mr. Gai,” She began, “Not that I’m not happy you showed up, but what exactly are you doing here?”

Mr. Gai looked at her for a moment, before responding, almost absent mindedly, “Oh, I’m supposed to grab someone and bring him back to my Earth.” Then his brow furrows and he asks, “What are you doing here? This isn’t your and your brother’s Earth.”

Asahi rubbed the back of her head, a sheepish smile on her face, “I kinda tripped here, because of Kenshin. Now I can’t go home even if I wanted to.”

It looked like Mr. Gai was going to respond, but then, Mr. Juggler appeared behind him, holding his sword to Mr. Gai’s neck. Asahi wasn’t sure what to do, but soon became confused when Mr. Gai calmly moved the sword down from his neck.

“Is that anyway to greet someone, Juggler?”

Did… Did Mr. Gai and Mr. Juggler know each other? Now that she thought about it, Mr. Juggler sure did know a lot about Ultras, so it would make sense that he knew one. And Mr. Gai did just say that he was here to find someone. They weren’t much alike, and given what Mr. Juggler just did, she wouldn’t think they got along very well.

“Uh,” She began, though she didn’t really finish. She didn’t know what to say.

“Now, what’s this about losing to Nova twice?” Mr. Gai’s tone was teasing, and he had a cheeky smile on his face when he posed the question to Mr. Juggler.

Mr. Juggler scowled, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gai.”

“But Asahi told me so,” Mr. Gai chirped, “And why would she lie?”

“You’d believe what that brat says?” Mr. Juggler’s scowl deepened as he huffed, “She’s seemed to have gotten herself into a whole big mess. Way to big for her to handle, clearly.”

“Didn’t you lose to Nova twice in two days?” Asahi asked dryly, feeling a lot of her joy drain. Something about just being around Mr. Juggler was very… tiring was probably the best way to describe it.

Mr. Juggler continued to scowl and shot her a glare but otherwise didn’t say anything. Mr. Gai laughed, placing his hand on Mr. Juggler’s shoulder. “We should probably get going.”

“Oh!” Asahi thought of something, “Hey, could you tell my brothers I’m okay? They’re probably worried.”

Mr. Gai gave her a small smile, “Yeah, sure,” In the short amount of time they were talking, Mr. Juggler had tried to sneak away. Mr. Gai turned to him and called, “Hey Juggler! Come on, we need to go tell Asahi’s brothers she’s okay.”

Mr. Juggler scowled once more, an expression that Asahi was getting very used to seeing on him. “I’m not going with you.”

“Sure you’re not,” Mr. Gai grabs his arm and began to drag him off. “Let’s go.” Juggler frowned. Even though Asahi was pretty sure it was more of a pout than a frown. She held back a laugh.

She hears something fall to the ground and roll, coming from the direction the two had left in. That was strange, had one of them dropped something? She walks over, finding what had fallen and made that sound. A Crystal, but that wasn’t what surprised her. On the Crystal was a picture of Mr. Juggler in his monster like form. Given she wasn’t really sure what this Crystal would do, as well as the fact that it had “evil” written on it, which was funny given she didn’t really think Mr. Juggler was all that evil, Asahi wasn’t in any hurry to figure out what it did. Instead, she slipped it into her pocket, deciding she’d deal with it… later.

\---

“Okay, what the hell was all of that!?” Jun growled, using both arms to gesture to the screen, which was replaying the fight with Nova earlier, “That monster guy again, and then what? Another Ultra? Again?”

Matsuoka hummed, “It seemed so, at the very least, this other Ultra seems to be on Grigio’s side.”

Rin crossed their arms, “Well, either way, I think we can all agree that these past couple days have been…” They trail off, trying to think of a good way to finish.

“Interesting?” Fuyuko offered, “I’ll say. I wonder what’s up with that, though?”

Jun groaned, “Just don’t go theorizing about it. We don’t need _another_ conspiracy board popping up thanks to you.”

“What are you talking about?” Fuyuko asked in mock innocence, “I had nothing to do with that last one. Why would I waste my time theorizing about the existence of a time traveling alien who is the good half of another time traveling alien who was evil. And then the evil time traveling alien turned a bunch of aliens and kaijus into dolls. That’s the most ridiculous theory I’ve ever heard of.”

“Sure it is,” Jun rolled her eyes, “Sure it is.”

\---

Zero was, by all means, minding his own business. He was sitting in the back of the Minatos’ shop, flipping through the pages of some book they had lying around. He was pretty sure that their dad had commented about it being Asahi’s. Which, given it was about Magical Girls, probably made sense.

So when someone entered the shop, he didn’t pay too much mind. Katsumi was just at the counter, so he’d be there to help them or whatever if needed. No, he only looked up when he heard Katsumi call for his brother. Because why would he do that?

Looking up, he saw why. There was Orb-Gai and Juggler, the latter of which was frowning, as he seemed to do quite a bit, looking rather disinterested. Isami finally came in, also noticing the two.

“Orb – Gai, what are you two doing here?” Zero asked, closing the book he was reading and tucking away where there was no way either Or-Gai or Juggler could see it. He didn’t need them to know he was ever reading that.

“Oh, Mr. Zero!” It seemed Or-Gai hadn’t noticed him. “What are you doing here?”

“He’s helping us look for Asahi,” Isami answered, crossing his arms. “She kinda just… disappeared a month or so ago.”

“Oh, yeah!” Or-Gai perked up, “That’s why we’re here, actually.”

Katsumi tilted his head in confusion, “It is?”

“Yeah, Asahi told us to tell you that’s she’s okay.”

“You saw her?” Isami asked, eyeing the two, “How’d you manage that?”

“I was looking for Juggler,” Or-Gai responded, pointing his thumb at the grouchy Juggler who was now poking around the shop. “Apparently he lost to a Nova twice in two days.”

Juggler swirled around, “I did not!”

“Anyway,” Or-Gai began, grabbing Juggler and making his way towards the door, “Now that we’re done here, Naomi told us to be back by tomorrow and to pick up groceries on our way back.”

“I’m not going grocery shopping for her,” Juggler growled, trying to tug himself way from Or-Gai, “And certainly not with you.”

Zero is pretty sure Or-Gai is rolling his eyes when he responds with, “Let’s go,”. Zero is positive that Juggler was pouting as he was being dragged out.

Once the two were gone, Katsumi snapped out of the stupor he’d fallen into. “Wait, we should have asked them where Asahi was.”

Isami looked at him and sighed, “Yeah, we should have…”

Zero decided he should probably try to like, cheer them up or something. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. At least you know she’s okay.”

“That really doesn’t make us feel all that much better,” Katsumi responded dryly.

“We still don’t know where she is or if she’ll stay that way.” Isami added.

Zero sighed, “Grigio can take care of herself.”

“To an extent,” Katsumi said.

And he did have a point, as far as Zero knew. Grigio, Asahi, wasn’t much of a fighter, even when she was trying to be.


	13. Whatever Darkness Awaits You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can only keep a secret for so long, and when there are people you technically interact with often, it’s a little harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to upload this sooner, but got distracted. Anyway, I’m gonna put the next chapter up tomorrow because of how this one ends and they go hand in hand. Not to mention I have it written. Then I’ll disappear for a week with no internet and write chapter 15 and probably 16 we’ll see.

Despite what Fuyuko had told Jun a week before, with Chikako’s help, they did have a conspiracy board. It just wasn’t in the break room like the last one. No, this one was located in a rarely traversed hallway in the back of KPaRS’ base. And what Fuyuko told Jun was technically true, to an extent. After all, this board had nothing to do with that monster man or the other Ultras. Just Grigio. More importantly, who Grigio was.

Because she had to be hiding among humans, one way or another. She couldn’t just, disappear whenever she wasn’t fighting monsters. Even more interestingly, though, was the reporter Tomomi Hashimoto. Recently, he’d written a whole bunch of articles about Grigio, really, he was about the only person who wrote about her with such consistency. Which was kinda odd when you thought about it. After all, he was the one who gave them all the name Ultrawoman Grigio in the first place. And so much information about her, things that couldn’t really be learned just from watching her fights. At first, it’s nothing really worth taking a second look at. Any one article alone wasn’t anything particularly interesting, barring the subject matter. But if you look at all of them together, it almost seemed like Hashimoto knew more about Grigio than he was letting on.

Of course, he could be making it all up. That was very much a possibility. A lot of what Chikako and Fuyuko had on the board was pretty circumstantial. There wasn’t really a lot about the guy they could prove. Really, they wouldn’t even have noticed the… oddness of his articles if it weren’t for the fact that their captain always seemed to read them. Which was something that, looking back, had always happened, not something new because of Grigio.

They could ask Matsuoka, but looking into Hashimoto and Grigio like this wasn’t really something they were supposed to be doing. At least not while they were working. After and before work was a different story. Still, they didn’t want to risk being told by Matsuoka to knock it off. Besides, there’s other ways to look into someone. Like the internet. Not that the internet was going to help them learn who Grigio was, really. But it could tell them about Hashimoto.

So that’s what Chikako was supposed to do. Search the internet for something more about Hashimoto, something that may be able to let them connect him to Grigio. Because no matter which way you looked at it, he had to at least know something about Grigio.

Fuyuko’s job was a bit different. She was to look for where Grigio came from when she appeared. She may have often flown off after defeating a Kaiju, but she didn’t just come from nowhere or anything. It should be possible to figure out where she came from. At least one or two times, she had to return to wherever she came from, and they’d find her then. The only problem there was that they probably wouldn’t be able to recognize her… But Chikako insisted they’d cross that road when they came to it. Fuyuko wasn’t so sure about that, but really, Chikako was quite persistent, and Fuyuko did not have that kind of boundless energy to argue about it.

\---

The investigating didn’t really get them anywhere. As it turned out, there was nothing special about Hashimoto, other than his penchant for writing articles on Kaiju. It’s been written in a few places that Kaiju where a hobby of his. It wouldn’t be a stretch of logic to assume that his articles on Grigio were simply acting as an extension of that. So, they were back to square one there.

As for where Grigio came from before a fight? No consistency, at least none that they could find. It was infuriating, simply because they were running out of leads and nothing new was popping up. Could they be missing something? Possibly, but they sure had no idea what.

Fuyuko didn’t mind this as much as Chikako did. Fuyuko came up with theories and made boards for them all the time. Chikako just sort of… came along for the ride on this one. She didn’t normally do this sort of thing, but something about Grigio triggered the part of her brain that liked to make theories. The part that hadn’t really been active since she binged watched Gravity Stream a few months ago. And the only reason that had made her theorize was just because that’s the sort of show it was.

But none of that meant that either of them were going to give up. They just needed one good lead and then they’d certainly find a big clue. Or something. To be fair, this wasn’t really in either of their territories of theories. Neither of them ever really theorized about things they could actually investigate. Not of something going on in Kurokita. But it wasn’t like either of them were afraid of playing detective.

\---

“Chikako,” Katsuhito began when Chikako had returned from her lunch break. Lately, she’d taken to pretty much disappearing whenever she got a break of any kind. Normally, this wouldn’t be too much of a concern, but with her recent interest in Grigio and Fuyuko beginning to do the same, he was becoming a bit worried. Not because he thought she was going to cause trouble, but simply because Chikako had a habit of _finding_ trouble. “You’ve been awfully busy during your breaks recently. What’s that about?”

Chikako shrugged, giving him a smile, “You know, just doing my thing. And getting food when it’s lunch.” Then she leans in raising a hand up to her mouth, “And occasionally other times, but don’t tell anyone I said that.”

It would almost be an insult to expect Katsuhito to simply just, believe that. And he didn’t. He gave her a look, one that he knew she’d be able to tell meant he most certainly did not believe her. He placed his hands on his hips and frowned, “You really expect me to take that vague of an answer.” He rolled his eyes and then crossed his arms.

She smiles sheepishly, raising her hands in defense with a shrug, “I mean, it was worth a shot, right?”

“Not really,” It was times like this that made Katsuhito wonder how Chikako managed to get a job here. Or at least how she managed to keep it. It wasn’t hard to see she was good at her job, but it also wasn’t hard to notice that sometimes, she acted like she was still a teenager. “Now are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to…?”

She put on a face of thought, then responded, “How about… Nope!”

Why wasn’t he surprised? He supposed it simply showed how used to her he was. They’d worked together plenty, after all, he’d joined not too long after her and they ended up assigned to work with each other a lot. Even now it was impossible to escape the whirlwind that was Chikako.

“Fine,” He sighed, turning his back to her so he could go back to working. They both had plenty of things to do, after all. They needed to finish off their newest device for KPaRS. The simplest way to describe it was as a net that could both send an electrical charge to shock a Kaiju, but it could also release large amounts of a freezing solution. In case there was a Kaiju that couldn’t simply be shocked.

It wasn’t finished yet though. That’s why they needed to get back to work, and why Chikako disappearing off the way she had been was kind of concerning. There was too much to do and not enough time, let alone enough people to work. They needed to prove this could work, or they might be forced to make something far worse. Even if _they_ weren’t forced to make it, then someone else might do so willingly.

“I’m… surprised you dropped it so easily,” It was a casual comment, made as she wandered to her desk, spinning a screwdriver in her hand. “Something’s must have you stressed.”

“Yeah,” He responded, taking a deep breath to hide his annoyance, “You know, this net that we need to have finished by today?”

A glance over at Chikako showed her eyes widening as she glanced at her computers clock, checking the date. “Shit,” She said, scrambling to grab a piece from the corner of her desk. “Shit that’s today.”

“Yes, it is.” Katsuhito would be the first to say that overall, she was a wonderful person. A bit childish at times, yes, but that was ignorable when placed with the rest of her personality. But the part that always got him was when she did _this_. Get distracted by something and then not realize that there was other things she needed to have done until the last minute. He knows she doesn’t mean to, but it doesn’t make it any less infuriating.

“Don’t worry! I’ll have this piece finished in –“ She glances at the clock again, “Half an hour, tops.”

But at least the quality of her work doesn’t suffer, even when she’d rushing to finish it last minute. Somehow.

\---

“So how have you been, Fuyuko?” It wasn’t unusual for Matsuoka to pose questions like that. He was always interested in how their lives were going. Whether it was out of pure politeness or genuine care most debated. But Fuyuko remembers working at KPaRS for a few years before he was captain and she knows that his care is genuine.

But she was still a bit surprised. Mostly because that’s the sort of thing he’d ask at the beginning of the day. Not after lunch. Still, it’d be rude not to respond and she never really liked being rude to him. He was far to nice to her when she first joined KPaRS for her to repay that kindness with being rude.

“I’ve been fine,” She said, ignoring the eyeroll from Jun off to the side. Jun was always like that, really. Of course, Jun had also known her longer than most of KPaRS. They’d gone to the same high school, and while they weren’t the same age they were friends. Despite not seeing each other for several years after Fuyuko graduated, neither had really forgotten the other when Jun joined KPaRS. But that also meant that Jun was the most familiar with Fuyuko’s tendencies, especially when it came to theories.

“Right, not making too many crazy theories?” Jun offered with a smirk.

“Of course not,” Fuyuko huffed, “What is with you and always bring those up? And they’re not crazy.” She had crossed her arms.

“I hear that you’ve been looking into Grigio,” Matsuoka adds, “I can’t imagine you’ve had much luck.”

“No,” She laughed, “As it turns out, it’s really hard to find information on something no one knows much about.”

“Who’d have thought,” Jun commented, sitting herself at her desk. “But why look into her?”

“Well, she has to be hiding somewhere, right? Maybe she’s disguising herself as a human.”

“Wherever she is and whoever she might be,” Matsuoka began, “Is none of our business and I imagine if she wanted us to know, she’d tell us.”

“I dunno,” Jun offered, “It’s seems a bit suspicious that no one knows much about her. Why not just come out and say it or something?”

“Regardless, it’s not in KPaRS’ jurisdiction. So, while I don’t care what you do outside of work, keep your sleuthing out of work time, alright?” Their captain, as friendly as he is, always surprises when he becomes so serious. Maybe it was because he was so often friendly and relaxed it was such a surprise. “Both you and Chikako.”

“Yes sir,” Fuyuko gives a small smile, “No detective work while at work. That’s fair.”

And really, he could do far worse than just tell the two of them to knock it off. But as long as they kept it from interfering with their work too much, they ought to be fine.

\---

To say Chikako was fuming was an understatement.

There was a Kaiju attack today, nothing to bad, and really, Grigio seemed to have it handled. But it was decided to be perfect timing and the perfect time to test their new net. But when Jun and Rin fire it at the Kaiju, it just doesn’t work! So now here she was with Jun, to lead them to where it fell, and Fuyuko, to make sure nothing happens, trying to find the damn thing and figure out why it didn’t work.

What really got her, was that her and Katsuhito had quadruple checked that it worked before they loaded it into the plane. There was no reason it should have just. Not worked like that. Yet, that’s what it did. And she was really pissed. All that work and it’d probably be for nothing. There went their chance to prove they could make good ways to stop the monsters that _weren’t_ straight up freaking guns!

But they still had to go retrieve it. In front, Jun was idly leading the way, hands in the pockets of her pants. In the rear was Fuyuko, who seemed rather disinterested by the whole thing. Chikako didn’t blame her. Frankly, she herself would like nothing more than go home and remedy her emotions with a bunch of ironically bad movies and sixteen cups of hot chocolate filled with marshmallows.

“So what do you think that like…net thing was about?” A girl’s voice asked from a distance away. It wasn’t too quiet, but by the sound of it, the girl was talking a bit loudly. Oddly, the girl sounded familiar. Had Chikako heard her somewhere before?

“I’m not… sure.” A man’s voice responded, he sounded much more unsure. Like the girl, he also sounded familiar. Strange. “But we should probably get going. No point in staying around here.”

“I guess you’ve got a point…” Fuyuko snuck ahead, making her way towards the voice, Jun and Chikako not far behind. They turn the corner finding the source of the voices. The man they could easily identify as Tomomi Hashimoto. The girl on the other hand, they weren’t so sure.

“What are you two doing, hanging around here?” Fuyuko asked, a hand on her hip. The two jumped slightly, the girl more than Hashimoto. The two spun around to face them.

Hashimoto looked somewhat unsure, which was strange, “Ah, well…”

Then the girl butts in, cheerfully responding, “I like to climb stuff.”

“What?” Jun asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“I like to climb stuff,” The girl said again, then moved over to a pile of debris. She places a foot on it and makes an attempt to climb upon it, only to fall when she loses purchase. “See, I, uh, like to climb stuff.”

Jun rolled her eyes, “Sure…” Then sighed, “Why don’t you two head out of here, yeah?”

Hashimoto nods, “Of course, we were just planning to do so.”

Then the girl cheerily reaches in to her pocket, producing three candies and holding them out. “Would you like some candy?” She asked, then added when she noticed their confused faces, “Like some goodbye candy!”

It was that action that made something in Chikako’s head click. “Ah, you’re that girl that was taking photos for Hashimoto like, a month ago. The one with the candy!”

The girl tilted her head in thought, then snapped her fingers when she seemed to also realize something. “Oh yeah! You’re the one we talked to!”

“Mostly you,” Hashimoto laughed, “But yes, I believe she is.”

“That’s pretty happy, huh?” The girl adds as the three take her candy, “I’m Asahi, by the way.”

Jun stretches, “Alright, well we need to get going…”

“Oh yeah,” Chikako groaned, “The freaking net.”

“The net from earlier?” Hashimoto asked, “I think it fell over that way,” He points off in a direction.

Jun thinks for a moment before nodding, “Yep, sounds about right.”

“Alright!” Chikako cheered, “Let’s go find it and figure out why the damn thing didn’t work!”

Once the three of them parted from Hashimoto and Asahi, it didn’t take them long to find the net. It lied on the ground as though it was draped out, like when you set a blanket down.

“Well that explains why it didn’t work.”

Chikako said mainly to herself when she went to inspect it. At first glance it seemed like nothing was wrong… But when she looked at the part that housed the battery for the electrical charge, she noticed it was broke open. Rather crudely, and the battery was not so much taken out as it was ripped from it’s place. She had a hunch as to why the freezing function didn’t work either, but it was best to check it. There, where the many small bottles holding the cooling compound were, was a lot of holes, in both the bottles and the tubing leading away from them.

“That easy?” Jun asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head.

“Yeah,” Chikako was pretty sure her immense irritation was obvious, “Somehow, someone ripped the battery out _and_ punctured the tube and bottles for the cooling agent.”

“And no one noticed this?”

Chikako laughed at that, “Listen, it was fine when Katsu and I gave this thing to you. Somehow between then and you and Rin firing it, this happened.” She sighed, “I don’t know how but it did.”

Fuyuko spoke up next, “But how? It would be impossible to pull this off once it was inside the plane.”

“Beats me,” Chikako shrugged, then began to pick the net up, “Let’s get going. We’ll ask the captain what to do about it.”

Then off in the distance, a voice that they’d heard not all that long ago. “Aha! I found it!” That was strange, didn’t Hashimoto and Asahi say they were going to leave? Why were they still around? And what had Asahi found…?

“Great,” Came Hashimoto’s voice, “Now we really should be leaving.”

“Right!”

Jun looked at Fuyuko and Chikako, “Should we go check on them…?”

Fuyuko sighed, “Probably.” Then she glances around, “A lot of the buildings around here might not be entirely stable. No one should really be around here. Something could collapse, that wouldn’t be good for anyone.”

“Right then,” Jun began to head towards where they heard Hashimoto and Asahi’s voices from. “Off we go.”

Fuyuko and Chikako followed, Chikako carrying the net, still grousing about it’s state. It didn’t take them long to catch up with Hashimoto and Asahi. When they found the two, Hashimoto was watching as Asahi attempted to climb over a pile of rubble. She wasn’t having too much luck, though she was trying and trying. Hashimoto eventually just sighed and walked around the rubble.

“Oh,” She said, looking over at him, “Around works too.”

“Thought you two were leaving?” Jun asked, crossing her arms. She rolled her eyes slightly at Asahi’s antics.

“We are,” Asahi smiles, sliding down from the pile of rubble she was on, “We just gotta get past all this… uh, rubble.”

“Right…” Fuyuko rolled her eyes, “Well it’s not safe to hang around here, yeah?”

“Of course,” Hashimoto agreed, “We’re really trying to leave. It just… takes some time.”

“Yep!” Asahi nearly cheered, “We’re on our way home now!”

“Good,” Chikako sighed, because she really, really, wanted this day to be over. The net not working, or rather somehow getting messed with, really put a damper on her mood. So now, she’d like to deal with the net and go home and then not worry about monsters or what have you. “Now let’s get go-“

Why was the ground rumbling?

Fuyuko was the one who spun around and found out why. “It’s another Kaiju!” She yelled, pointing towards the source of the rumbling. Sure enough, there it was, another Kaiju. This one was a dirty brown sort of color with two horns on the side of its head and one on its nose area. Its stomach seemed to be raised almost like a pine cone.

“Another one?” Chikako grumbled, because this day truly couldn’t get any worse. “Just our frigging luck!”

The Kaiju had grabbed and piece of a building and threw it. Soon there was a loud crash and-

“Hey!” Asahi yelled and shoved Chikako to the ground. They had been the furthest from the rest of the group, but now they were in the middle.

It took Chikako a moment to orient herself after that. But she rather quickly realized what had happened. The piece of debris the monster threw had collided with one of the buildings they were next to, causing pieces to fall. And there was a large chunk that would have landed right where she was standing if it hadn’t been for Asahi.

Wide eyed, she managed to mutter a thanks.

Asahi just grinned, “No problem!”

“We do have a bit of another problem, though,” Hashimoto said, then pointed around them, “We happen to be trapped beneath a whole lot of wreckage.”

“That we are,” Fuyuko pursed her lips, “I’m contacting the captain.”


	14. They Will Remain If You Don't Believe In Our Glow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No more secrets. Asahi's fine with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I uh, nearly forgot about this. I had something that took up most of today.

“Captain?” Fuyuko was fiddling with her communicator, “Come on… I know you should work…”

Then a crackle and Matsuoka’s voice came through, “Fuyuko? Are you, Jun, and Chikako alright? You should have been near where the Kaiju is attacking…”

“We’re… Alright,” Fuyuko responded, “But we’re trapped under some rubble, along with two civilians.”

There was a pause, before he responded, “Alright. With Jun there we’re down a pilot and the plane really needs both…” He was quiet, “Here’s what’s going to happen. You all sit tight while I’ll accompany Rin in the plane. Hopefully Grigio will appear and assist us. If you need to get in contact, I’ll have Katsuhito here keeping an eye on communications.”

Fuyuko glanced around, taking a deep breath before responding, “Got it.”

Jun sat herself on some rubble, looking out a gap in the rubble. The gap was large enough and angled right that they could see the Kaiju, but still too small for any of them to fit through. “Well, it couldn’t get any worse, at least.”

Chikako shoots her a glare, “Don’t say that,” She grumbled, “It’ll find a way if you do. We don’t need things to get worse.” She unwrapped the net from around her arms and began to fiddle with it.

“What are you doing?” Fuyuko asked, watching as Chikako pulled out various tools and parts from her tool belt.

“If we’re stuck here, I might as well get some work done.” Chikako responded, “And I’m sure Katsu won’t mind me trying to fix this net.”

“Do you even have the parts for that?” Asahi asked, though there was something unusual in her tone. She sounded awfully nervous, even for someone trapped in rubble during a monster attack. Even Fuyuko seemed to have noticed it and Fuyuko was the one who worked with people in these sort of situations the most, so if it was off, she’d be the one to notice it.

Chikako laughed, “Of course I do!” She waves around the screwdriver in her hand, “What kind of mechanic would I be if I didn’t?”

“A normal one?” Jun offered, with a cheeky smile. This was something they all could appreciate. Being able to relax even in a stressful situation.

Maybe that was something Asahi needed? Despite her cheerful exterior, something she was somehow managing to mostly maintain, even now, she seemed to become more and more stressed with each moment.

Soon they could see the plane with Rin and Matsuoka flying near the Kaiju. Yet this somehow only seemed to make Asahi even more stressed, instead of less like one might expect. There was one other thing… Where was Grigio? There was no sign of her anywhere. Normally she’d have appeared by now.

Then there was Hashimoto, who was watching the monster with a strange fascination. Of course, hadn’t they found that Kaijus were his hobby? It really shouldn’t have been all that much of a surprise; it was likely that he recognized the monster. He had even started muttering a bit.

“Hey, Hashimoto,” Fuyuko called, snapping him out of his mind, “You know much about that monster?”

He tilted his head before responding, “That’s a Gomora, they’re dinosaur like creatures, though they’re usually much more peaceful.” He closed his eyes and hummed before opening them and continuing, “Its special ability is Super Oscillating Wave, a very dangerous energy wave.

“You know,” Jun began dryly, “For someone who only likes Kaijus as a hobby, you certainly know a lot.”

He shrugged, “It’s just a hobby.” He looks out at where the KPaRS plane flies around Gomora, “It’s kind of funny, that Kaiju from earlier, Sodom, would fair rather well against Gomora. Against many Kaiju, really, given that it’s very hot and really, it doesn’t matter who you are, heat has a tendency to hurt.”

Jun blinks, “Ooooookay.” She comments, “Odd thing to say. But okay.”

Asahi was pacing now, walking at increasing speeds every time she crossed the area. Hashimoto looked at her worriedly, “Are you going to be alright Asahi?”

She spins on her heel to face him, a big smile plastered on her face. There was little attempt put into making it convincing, though. “What are you talking about Tomomi? I’m fine!” Then she went back to pacing.

Chikako peered out the hole and frowned, “Grigio’s still a no show,” She notes, “Isn’t she usually here by now?”

Fuyuko shrugged, “Usually.”

“Maybe she’s sick?” Jun joked, though it did little to conceal her own concern.

Fuyuko elbowed her, “Not funny,”

“Yeah, I know…” Jun sighed, not trying to keep her weak smile on her face.

Hashimoto glanced warily at Asahi, before responding, “I’m sure it’s fine.” He didn’t sound all that convinced though.

Then there was silence. All they could do was watch and hope Rin and Matsuoka could calm down Gomora without Grigio.

And more silence.

And more.

Silence.

…

“Oh to hell with it!” Asahi stomped, a frown plastered determinedly on her face. “There isn’t time for this!”

She pulled out a strange device, some sort of medal in her other hand. Hashimoto looked surprised, “…Asahi…?”

“I’m not just gonna sit around her and do nothing just because of some secret or other!” She places the medal in the device and called out, “Color me with your power! Grigio!”

Jun, Chikako, and Fuyuko watched in amazement as in a glow of light Asahi went through the small opening. Following the light, they saw as it became Grigio. Hashimoto just watched with mirth in his eyes.

“There she goes,” He said, “I was wondering how long she was going to wait.”

Jun spun and looked at him, “You knew she was Grigio?”

Hashimoto nods, crossing his arms, “For quite a while.”

Chikako looked at Fuyuko and cried, “Knew it!” Resulting in some interesting looks from Hashimoto and Jun. Chikako coughed into her hand and then said, “Uh, never mind.”

The four watched as Asahi, or rather Grigio began to fight Gomora.

\---

Rin never really ceased to be amazed whenever Grigio appeared the way she did. Something about the glow of light she so often appeared in just made some part of Rin giddy. It wasn’t really something they could explain, even if they wanted to.

Rin had been worried Grigio wouldn’t appear, had even said so much to Matsuoka, but he laughed and said that if they needed her to, she would come and help. They didn’t really understand how he could have so much faith in someone he’d never met, but somehow, he did.

But then Grigio appeared, so now it didn’t seem like there was all that much to worry about. She summoned two Kaiju to fight Gomora alongside her. Nova and Sodom, then she summoned her bow and prepared to fight.

“I guess you were right Captain,” Rin idly noted as they steered the plane farther from Gomora. There was no reason to get to close, they didn’t want to get in Grigio or her Kaijus’ way. “Grigio did show up.”

“Of course she did,” He responded, “That’s apart of what she does. Or at least I believe it to be.”

Then their communications came through, from Fuyuko, Jun, and Chikako. “You guys will never believe what we just saw!” Came Chikako’s cry. She sounded a mix between amazed and excited, which was strange, given her current situation.

“And what did you see?” Matsuoka responded and while Rin couldn’t see his face, they were pretty sure he had something of a smile.

There was some background noise that they couldn’t quite make out, it sounded like someone else saying something, before Jun responded, “We saw Grigio transform. One of the two civilians – She’s Grigio.”

Rin couldn’t help but laugh at that. “What are the odds,” They said, “That the reason Grigio took so long was because of you three.”

“It’s not like we knew Grigio was some teenage girl!” Chikako sounded annoyed. There was more background noise, probably the other civilian in with them, before Chikako added, “Excuse me, a twenty something girl.”

Matsuoka hummed, “And what of the other civilian?”

It was Fuyuko who responded, “He’s fine. Knew the whole time, even. Now he’s just telling us _all_ about Gomora. And Nova. And Sodom.” There was a sigh, “He just won’t stop. What kind of journalist know this much about Kaijus?”

“Journalist?”

There’s some rustling before a new voice comes over, “Hey Kaoru,” And wasn’t it strange that the man addressed the Captain so friendly, “Given Gomoras are usually peaceful Kaiju, do you also wonder what caused this one to freak out like this? Because I sure do.”

Again, Rin couldn’t see Matsuoka’s face, but they were pretty sure he was surprised. He sure sounded like he was, “…Tomomi…?” He seemed to need a moment to gather his thoughts, “You knew Grigio…?”

“Hm?” The other voice seemed to be thoughtful, “Well yes, but in my defense, you’ve already met her.”

That was… an odd thing to say. But it seemed that whoever Grigio was, she’d met the Captain at some point. Most likely with this friend of his. But it wasn’t like that mattered much right now.

Matsuoka sighed, “When you four are out, we’ll talk more.”

It sounded like Tomomi was smiling when he responded, “Yeah, I expected you’d say that. You’re in Captain Mode right now.” He laughed as he walked away from the communication device, but his last comment could be heard, “So serious.”

Then the two of them return their attention to Grigio who has now tied Gomora up, looking rather proud of herself. She turns towards the direction she came from, instead of taking off to the sky like she usually did. Instead she leaned down and with the help of her two Kaijus, began to move some rubble.

“What is she…?” Rin wondered, before Fuyuko’s voice came over to them again.

“Uh… The rubbles moving…?”

“It looks like Grigio and her Kaijus are moving the rubble?” Rin notes, “That might be what you’re seeing. She could be trying to get you four out.”

There’s a pause before she responds, “Yeah, that’s what Hashimoto thinks too.”

\---

Asahi never realized how stressful meeting people could be until right now. After she’d freed the KPaRS members and Tomomi, she’d landed next to them. Now, they were heading the KPaRS base, because she’d kinda just revealed to much of team that she was Grigio. And now she was very stressed, but for different reasons than before.

Really though, what’s the worse that could happen? It’s not like they could really stop her from being Grigio, nor would they have any reason to. It was just oddly nerve wracking. She couldn’t really explain why. Before she knew it, they were there. When did they get there so fast. Next thing she knows they enter what she was pretty sure was their main room and Regina was in her arms.

The captain, Matsuoka, Tomomi’s friend who’d she’d met with him at the café that one time, tilted his head in confusion. “What’s that in your arms?”

She looks down, then realized he was talking about Regina. “Oh, this is Regina,” She responded, “My uh, Kaijus sometimes do this.”

A man, one of the engineers, Katsuhito she thinks his name is, leans in, “This is the one we can’t identify,”

He goes to poke Regina. “Wait don’t-“ Before Asahi can warm him otherwise, Katsuhito has poked Regina.

To Regina’s credit, there were many worse things she could do than what she did. All she did was bite his finger, rather gently it seemed. Still, Katsuhito pulled his hand back with a yelp, like he’d been burned.

“Regina’s not all that friendly…” She sheepishly finished.

“Anyway,” Matsuoka continued, “Asahi Minato, correct?”

“Yep,” She smiled, “That’s my name!”

“And you’re really Grigio?”

“Uh… Yes?”

The pilot with the scarf, Rin she thinks they recalled, raises an eyebrow. “You don’t sound to sure of that?”

“Er, well,” Asahi began, shaking her hands and Regina shifted from her arms to resting on her shoulders, “It’s just. Like. How do you respond to a question like that?”

“With a simple yes?” Rin offered, their arms still crossed.

“Well one would think!”

Matsuoka looked to Tomomi, “Do I even want to know how long you’ve known?”

Tomomi smiled, “Since the day Grigio first appeared.”

Matsuoka sighed, “And that’s why you wrote the article.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Because that was clearly why he wrote the article. Because he knew who Grigio was.

“I’ve got a question,” Fuyuko spoke up as Matsuoka seemed to be taking a moment to think. “Where did you come from? Why did you just suddenly show up one day?”

“Well,” Asahi began, “So I’m from another Earth, in another world. And I came here because I accidently fell through a portal that lead here. I can’t exactly go home now, and as an Ultra I ought to help people!”

Then Jun spoke, “And what about that Kenshin guy?”

Asahi shrugged, “He seems to want revenge. Not really because of anything my brothers or I did, but long story short we’re not the first ones to be Rosso, Blu, and Grigio.”

Matsuoka finally brought his next question, “You’ve mentioned your brothers before. By the sounds of it, they’re Ultras too?”

“Yeah!” Asahi beamed, “They’ve been Ultras longer than I have. My oldest brother, Katsumi, is Rosso, and my other brother, Isami, is Blu.”

“You really like your brothers, huh?” Fuyuko noted.

“Well, yeah.” Asahi gave her a look, “They’re my brothers. Why wouldn’t I?”

Katsuhito tilts his head, “You’re the youngest, right?”

“…Yes…?”

He walks over and pats her on the head, “I think you’re the exception, not the rule.” Then he walks back to where he had been.

Asahi blinks, “What does that mean?”

Matsuoka gives them all a smile, “I think that’s enough questions for now.” He approaches Asahi and Tomomi, “It would help us all, I believe, if we could work together from now on. Not just trying to communicate when a Kaiju is fighting.”

“Yeah,” She agrees, “Probably.”

“Then it’s settled,” He clasps his hands together, “From now on, KPaRS and Grigio will work together!”

“Sounds great!”

Jun leans over to Tomomi, “Is she always like this?”

“Happy?” Jun nods, “Yes, that’s just how Asahi is.”


	15. Until Love Triumphs in the Galaxy I’ll Travel Eternally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KPaRS and Asahi meet two curious people and some Kaijus suddenly appear to help Grigio, except their not hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next chapter were supposed to be one, but they got too long.

In an effort to get to better know KPaRS and its members, Asahi had taken to spending her free time around their base. If asked, she’d say it’s so they can all better work together, but the actual reason was a bit different. Tomomi was pretty much the only person she’d really talked to consistently since she’d arrived on this Earth. Regina, Bemstar, Nova, and Sodom didn’t really count. While they could sort of respond, they didn’t really have conversations with her the same way that other people did. So she was really glad to have the opportunity to talk with other people and be friends with them. That was the real reason she had begun to spend so much time there.

No one seemed to mind, really. They all seemed equally curious about her as she was about them. Okay, so maybe they were more curious than she was, but she didn’t exactly blame them. She was pretty sure she’d ended up asking her brothers quite a few questions when she found out they were Russo and Blu.

It was one such time when she was hanging out in the main room of their headquarters, that Jun had asked her a question that Asahi was surprised no one else had asked. “How do you get Kaijus to fight with you?”

From a few feet away, Fuyuko looked up, eyes glimmering with interest, “It has something to do with that device you use and those medals, doesn’t it?”

Asahi tilts her head, “Well…” She began, “I use my Gyro, that device I use to transform, and the Kaiju Crystals, which I do use a Crystal to transform into Grigio.” She pulls out Bemstar and Sodom’s Crystals and present them to the two.

“I use the Kaiju Crystals to summon Kaijus, the Grigio Crystal to transform, and the Cosmos Crystal to calm monster.” She continued her train of thought, not giving too much attention to her words.

“Cosmos Crystal?” Jun asked, looking up from the two Crystals, “Who – What’s a Cosmos?”

“Cosmos?” Asahi thought for a moment, “Oh! Cosmos is that blue Ultra who showed up when Lidorias was rampaging. He’s from another world, but he didn’t seem to have too much trouble getting back.”

“Lidorias?” It was Fuyuko’s turn to question, “That… Was that the bird Kaiju you fought then? The one you couldn’t identify?”

With a nod, Asahi chirped, “Yep!”

Fuyuko hummed. Around then, Asahi noticed that Chikako and Katsuhito had walked in. They’d been idly chatting, Chikako loudly, Katsuhito rather quietly, at least in comparison. When they walked in, they looked around.

“Where’s the Captain?” Katsuhito asked glancing around. He was right to be curious, as this was where Matsuoka most often was. But Asahi hadn’t payed his absence much thought. Perhaps he was in the bathroom or otherwise busy. It certainly wasn’t her business.

Jun and Fuyuko both glanced around themselves, both unable to find where their captain had gone. With a frown, Jun responded, “I’m not sure.”

“I haven’t seen him all day,” Fuyuko added, a matching frown on her face.

Asahi looked around herself, not really sure what she was looking for, but it felt like an answer would present itself if she did. She didn’t really see anything. Matsuoka’s desk looked as organized as it ever was – which meant to say that it was like Isami’s desk, organized chaos, only he knew where anything was – but the chair where she’d quickly learned he often sat doing some work or other was mysteriously empty. Which she supposed was odd.

“Maybe he’s sick?” She offered. That was the only reason she could think of that he might have been gone all day like this. Or maybe everyone had just missed him?

“Maybe…” Chikako didn’t sound horribly convinced, though actually seemed rather concerned. “Can someone check if he called in?”

There was a silence. Everyone seemed to look at everyone else.

“Do none of you… Do none of you know how to do that?” Asahi asked.

There was another silence before Fuyuko began, “Usually he checks when someone’s gone. And if the Captain’s gone, he usually says something at least the day before.”

It was about then that Rin walked in, idly flipping through a magazine, only noticing that everyone else was in the room once they’d walked to their desk and put the magazine down. “Am I… Am I late to some party or something?”

Chikako frowned, placing a hand on her hip when she responds, “We’re trying to figure out where the Captain is.”

Rin blinked, then walked over to Matsuoka’s desk, “Have you checked his desk?” They asked, then looked it over.

“Isn’t that like, rude or something?” Asahi asked, “Going through someone’s desk? Being rude isn’t all that happy.”

Rin rolled their eyes, “Not really, since he happened to have left a note.” They hold up a piece of note paper, with a message written in pen in handwriting that was not exactly neat but not even close to illegible.

“Seriously?” Jun nearly grumbled, “Of course, the one time he doesn’t say something ahead of time, he leaves a note.”

“Well what’s it say?” Katsuhito asked, crossing his arms, “What could have caused him to leave without saying anything?”

Rin takes a moment to read the note out loud, “I’m in a bit of a hurry so I’ll make this note quick, I have been asked to come to the Kaiju Conservation to go over some of the results of the research there. As such, I will most likely be gone all day. All of you, try to keep out of trouble. This includes Asahi if she chooses to visit today.”

When Rin finished reading, Asahi blinked, “Hey, why would I get into trouble?”

“Because you fight try to fight monsters, that’s a recipe for trouble,” Jun responded, rolling her eyes.

Chikako leaned her head back, “Well that explains where Captain went. Guess we’ll have to wait to tell him until tomorrow.”

Fuyuko eyed Chikako and Katsuhito warily, “Tell him what?” She crossed her arms, “What have you two been up to?”

Katsuhito sighed, “Do you always have to assume we’re up to something troublesome?” Then he added to answer her question, “And for your information, we’ve finished fixing the net. So barring any unforeseen issues – like last time – it should be good to go.”

“And,” Chikako added, a strained smile on her face, “If anyone tries to mess with it again, I will personally sock them in the face.”

She pops her knuckles and rolls her shoulders, adding with a devious smile, “Or in a far worse place, it all depends on who they might be.”

There’s something of a tense silence in the room after her comment. Ashai chuckles slightly, a bit uncomfortable, then says, “Okay, so threatening to punch someone is really not happy…”

Chikako grins, spinning around on her foot, “Anyway, if you need me, I’ll be plot – er, doing some minor checkups and tune ups on things in the workshop.” She strides out the door without any other word. Katushito watched as she left.

He sighed, leaning his head back. “I should probably be going too, if you need us, you know where to find us.”

The remaining four stood in silence, Rin eventually moving to sit at their desk, Jun and Fuyuko following after. Asahi stood awkwardly for a moment before plopping into a spare chair. The silence continued, before Fuyuko spoke up, breaking it.

“Why do you have so many Kaiju Crystals?” She asked, looking over at Asahi from her desk, “You’re an Ultra and you can clearly have Crystals from Ultras. So why so many Kaijus?”

Asahi didn’t immediately respond, trying to find the best way to explain it. The hard part about that, though, is that she herself didn’t really know for sure why. She just had her ideas. “Well, Isanii and Katsunii use the Ultra Crystals more, until I came here, I didn’t even know I could use the Kaiju Crystals and didn’t have Cosmos’.” She shrugged, “It probably has something to do with how before I became Grigio, my Gyro and Crystals simply let me become and control a Kaiju. I only ever used Regina though, before I became Grigio.”

Fuyuko frowned, seeming to be about to say more, before one of the KPaRS members, who Asahi had learned monitored the satellites that kept an eye on space, spoke up. “There appears to be some sort of disturbance not too far from the planet, above Japan.”

“Disturbance?” Fuyuko asked, “What kind?” It was odd to see her take charge like this, but given that she was the next oldest member in this part of KPaRS – other than the Captain, Fuyuko seemed to be the one who had been there the longest – it really shouldn’t have been so surprising. Given how no one questioned it or seemed surprised, this must not have been the first time something like this had happened.

The member frowned, squinting at the screen for a moment. He tilted his head this way and that before responding, “Well, uh, that’s the thing.” He said, sounding uncertain and nervous, “We’re not really sure?”

“You’re not sure?”

“Well!” The keys on his keyboard clicked as his fingers quickly pressed them, as though that might clear up the confusion. “Well, it appears – That is to say – We’ve never seen anything like this. In space at least.”

He leans over to the member next to him, who was in charge to monitoring the ocean near Japan, and says something, Asahi can’t tell what. That member leaned to the member to his side, who monitored the land for Kaijus and also said something. The last member frowned, typing on her keyboard. Then she speaks up, “We’ve had these disturbances on Earth.”

Fuyuko took a deep breath, “Right, so what’s the disturbances? What happened when we’ve seen them on Earth?”

The last member looks up to Fuyuko, “Previously, these disturbances have been attributed to instances such as before Grigio’s first appearance, before the unknown bird monster appeared, as well as after when it and the blue Ultra left, and most certainly after the defeat of Nova.” She scrolls her mouse slightly, “There are a few other instances that are unconfirmed to be the same disturbance but are most likely.”

Fuyuko looked at Asahi, “That means-“

“Someone is either entering or leaving this dimension.” Asahi finished, fighting the frown that wanted to form on her face. Could it be Kenshin’s doing? Or someone else like Mr. Juggler and Mr. Gai? Maybe someone like Zero?

The first member spoke up again, “It appears whatever – or whoever – it is, is about to enter the atmosphere.”

Jun and Rin began to grab things from their desk, Fuyuko doing the same, though she also queried, “Where does it seem it might land?”

The response wasn’t immediate, instead all three of the members were quickly typing and clicking. Then the first member responded after a minute, “Somewhere within a ten mile radius of six miles away from the Kaiju Conservation and ten miles from the coast.” A map appeared on a screen on one of the walls of the room. It displayed the area he was referring to, a red circle indicating the area where the object might land.

Asahi stared at it wide eyed, “That’s a lot of ground,”

“We’ll be able to get a better idea the closer it gets.” The member responds, “In the meantime, it’s ETA is forty-five minutes.”

Fuyuko nods, “Right, it takes close to thirty minutes for us to get to the outskirts of that area.” She looks to the other three in the room, Jun and Rin now standing besides their desks, Asahi still sitting in the spare chair. “Alright you three, let’s get going.”

“Three?” Asahi asks, looking around. Was there someone she was missing? Wait… “You want me to come with you?”

They were already making their way out of the room, Asahi frantically following, when Fuyuko responds, “We don’t know what this is. It could be a Kaiju, then it would be important for you to be there.”

“What about if it’s aliens?”

“Then we hope they’re not hostile and turn them over to the AAD. Their not really suited to deal with hostile aliens.”

They all got into a van, apparently KPaRS transportation for things like these. While there was only four of them, there was a good six extra seats. “And why are Rin and Jun coming? They’re pilots, this doesn’t really seem like their thing.” Asahi asked as they began to drive.

This time it was Rin who responded, “KPaRS is a bit… Understaffed. These sort of things don’t happen often, so we just, double up our job.” Then they add, “KPaRS has bene able to operate like that because not much happened. With the sudden uptick in Kaiju attacks things have been… hectic to say the least.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Jun scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Tiring is how I’d phrase it.”

Fuyuko, though preoccupied driving, does add, “Never the less, we need to approach this with caution. We have no clue what we’re heading into.”

“Of course,” Jun responds, Rin nodding alongside her.

They barely arrive at the outskirts of the area, the Kaiju Conservation not too far away, when the KPaRS member calls out over their communications. Fuyuko answered with a question, “Any idea where they’ll land in this area?”

The KPaRS member wasted no time in responding, “Somewhere near the coast. We’re still not entirely sure what it is, though.”

Fuyuko begins to drive towards the coast, “That’s fine, we’ll find out soon.”

“It’ll probably land before we get there,” Rin notes, looking out the window, “Of course, if it’s a Kaiju, we’ll be able to tell from plenty far away. If it’s something else…”

“Let’s just hope they don’t cause trouble,” Jun finished.

The drive continued, quiet, though tense. No one knew what to expect. After about ten minutes, they could see something coming in. While it was unclear – to them at least – what it was, it did appear to be some kind of ship, though not large.

From the base, the member’s voice came again, “We’ve got a visual, it appears to be some kind of ship. It doesn’t match any in our databases.”

Fuyuko sighed, “Let’s just hope they’re friendly.”

“Here’s to hoping,” Jun responded dryly. Another six or seven minutes passed before they were close enough to see the ship well. Fuyuko pulls the van over. Standing outside of ship were two men. They seemed very much like humans, which was not what Asahi was expecting. A ship from space carrying humans… Of course, she couldn’t forget that they were from another world. Maybe in their world space travel was more common.

“What are they doing?” Rin asked quietly as they all got out of the van.

Fuyuko didn’t respond to the question, but did look at Asahi, who was the last to get out of the van. “Stay here,” she said.

“Why?” Asahi asked, “They seem to be humans and I’m friendly!”

“They could be dangerous.”

“I’ll run at the first sign of a fight?” Asahi offered, shrugging, “I’m just not going to stay here.”

She looks at the two, who really weren’t too far away, though they seemed caught up in examining their ship. Something about them was… unusual. Or one of them? Asahi wasn’t sure.

Fuyuko sighed, “Fine, just keep out of trouble.”

“Got it!”

The four make their way towards the ship and it’s two crewman. Fuyuko leading, Jun and Rin side by side behind her, Asahi behind those two. They quickly arrive to be close to the two. They’re wearing some kind of uniform, though it’s hard to tell much about it from the back. It appeared grey or an off white with black padding and yellow accents, though Asahi couldn’t tell much more.

Fuyuko crosses her arms before speaking up, “So you two mean to land here or…?”

The two spin around, now facing the four. Asahi can make out more about them and their uniform. But what is the most interesting part is the logo on their jacket.

One of the two speaks up, “Humans?” He seemed surprised, “Did we land on Earth?”

Fuyuko gives him a look, one that sort of implies the phrasing “no shit”. But she doesn’t say that, no instead she takes a deep breath and says, “Yes, this is Earth. And yes, we are humans. Now, you two mind introducing ourselves?”

Asahi reads the logo on their jackets, unable to help herself as she speaks it out, “ZAP? That’s an interesting name group name…”

Jun tilts her head, whispering to Rin beside her, “There’s no organization named ZAP.”

Rin sighed in response, “They’re from another world.”

The first man paused for a moment before introducing himself, “Ah, right. I’m Hyuga, captain of the Pendragon, and this is Rei, one of my crewmembers.”

Rei seemed to be examining the area, as well as the four across from them. Fuyuko sighed, “Right, do you guys know how you ended up here?”

Hyuga began to explain, “We we’re on a delivery when a Kaiju appeared so Rei and I left the Pendragon on the Dragon Speeder to…” He glances at Rei, “Deal with it. Afterward, a portal appeared and sucked us up, causing us to crash here.”

It didn’t seem anyone missed the glance to Rei, but no one said anything about it. Instead, Fuyuko sighed once again, probably realizing just how much she was doing so, “Right, so, here’s the deal. We’ll take you and your little ship back to base and get it fixed so you can leave. Hopefully get back to your world or whatever. You guys just have to not cause trouble. Sound good?”

Hyuga seemed surprised, for a moment, though he quickly responded, “Yes, thank you…”

“Fuyuko Uchiyama.” Then she points to each member, introducing, “Jun Kumagai, Rin Nakano is the one in the scarf, and the cheery girl in orange is Asahi Minato.”

Asahi waved with a smile. Rei gave a small smile, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Fuyuko, Jun, and Rin walked back towards the van to discuss things with base, leaving Asahi with Hyuga and Rei. While she decided that she wouldn’t ask them too many questions, there was just so much she was curious about. Was their appearance here really just coincidence? Were they even anyone unusual? What did they even do? They mention something about delivery? Okay so maybe she’d ask a few questions. No one could stop her.

“So what do you guys do? You mentioned something about delivery?”

Hyuga responded easily, “The Pendragon is a transport ship, we deliver supplies to various planets, mostly.”

“So are you guys from Earth? Actually, what’s your Earth like if you deliver to planets?”

There was a pause before Hyuga responded once more, “Space travels pretty common, now. And most members of ZAP are from Earth, it’s an Earth organization.”

As he spoke, something struck Asahi. About something that Hyuga had said when explaining how they got there. He mentioned they went in the Dragon Speeder to deal with a Kaiju. “How exactly is that small thing,” She points to the Dragon Speeder – at least that’s what she assumed it was. “Going to do much to deal with a Kaiju?”

The two seemed hesitant to answer that question. Which she thought was odd. Hyuga finally answered, “Well, the it was a small and weak Kaiju and so we were able to defeat it by shooting it from the Dragon Speeder.”

Asahi tilted her head, a confused looking creeping onto her face. You didn’t have to be a genius to notice something a bit odd there. “Does your ship not have guns on it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stay in a bigger ship?”

Again, Hyuga didn’t immediately respond. The look on his face told her that he recognized the logic there. But there also must have been something he didn’t want to talk about. Asahi could understand that. It wasn’t exactly like she wanted everyone to know she was Grigio.

She gives them a smile, “It’s alright if you don’t want to tell me. We all have secrets we want to keep.”

This time Rei responded, “I suppose you know a thing or two there?”

“You could say that…”

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” Hyuga asked suddenly.

“Shoot,” She smiled.

“Why are you with those three? They’re clearly apart of an organization, judging by the uniform, but you’re not wearing one.” Asahi looked down at herself, noting that yes, she most likely looked very out of place among Jun, Rin, and Fuyuko, who all wore the KPaRS uniform. Meanwhile, she was just wearing casual clothes.

“I… well I help out with certain things.” Asahi explained, “We didn’t know what was crashing in, so I came along in case it was something I could help with. And I’m pretty good with people.”

“Well you’re certainly sociable,” Rei commented, “Though are those three always so…”

“Serious?” She offers with a grin, then shrugs, “I mean, not really. But they take their jobs pretty seriously, so that’s probably why they are right now.”

Hyuga glances around, observing his surroundings. After doing so for a few moments, he asks, “What do they do?”

Asahi tilts her head as she repeats the questions, before realizing what he meant. “They work for the Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad, or KPaRS. I think what KPaRS does is pretty self explanatory.”

“You have… Kaiju here?” Rei slowly asks. That’s odd, they know about Kaiju, even mentioned one, but seemed surprised about there being one here. Of course, they spend a lot of time in space, by the sounds of it, so maybe they’re simply weren’t Kaiju on their Earth? That’s what really happened on her Earth, after all. There were hardly any Kaiju, if any, before Aizen and Saki summoned them. But there was clearly Kaiju off Earth, if Reugocyte was any indication. So maybe that was it.

Still, she slowly blinks before responding, “Do you… not?”

“There haven’t been Kaiju on our Earth in quite a while,” Hyuga explains, “The first time the Pendragon came across one, around the time we met Rei, was the first time anyone on the crew had ever seen one. At least in something other than pictures.

“I guess that makes sense,” Asahi nods, then smiles, “But yeah! They’re plenty of Kaiju here! Actually, we’re not too far from the Kaiju Conservation. I’ve never been there, but that’s where KPaRS relocates monster whose habitat have been destroyed or refuse to go back. Or so I’m told. I’m not entirely sure what all they do there, really.”

Hyuga crosses his arms, “That reminds me, what is it exactly you help with?”

Ah, she’d been hoping neither of them would ask that, but it seems her luck isn’t that good. “Well…” She began, quickly trying to come up with a good answer. The truth would be kind of weird, especially without telling them about her being an Ultra. Thankfully, she was saved from actually explaining by Fuyuko calling to them.

“Alright you guys, we gotta get going!”

Oh thank goodness for Fuyuko. “Oh, look at that! Let’s go!” Asahi quickly ran towards the van, nearly leaping into the seat.

Rin, who was seated next to her, looked at her with slight surprise, “…What was that about?”

She shrugged slightly, keeping an eye on Rei and Hyuga who instead walked to the van. “A question I did not want to answer.”

As the two got in, taking a seat behind Rin and Asahi, Fuyuko began to talk, “Alright, someone will be here to pick up your ship in a bit, in the meantime, we have to make a stop at the conservation.” She starts the van and begins to drive, “There’s some things the Captain wants to discuss in person.”

Jun and Rin nod in response, while Asahi tried her best not to seem too excited. Since arriving on this Earth, she’d found herself appreciating the monsters of the planet more and more. They were honestly pretty interesting, when they weren’t trying to destroy a part of the city or kill her. Also like, she was really curious what all they did there.

It didn’t take too long to get there, which was great because a bit of an uncomfortable silence had settled over everyone. Fair, given today had been rather odd, for all parties she imagined. But it didn’t make it any more comfortable. Once they were there, they all filed out of the van, moving into the lobby of the building.

Fuyuko looked at everyone, “Alright, Jun, Rin, you’re with me, we’ll talk with the Captain. Asahi, stay with our two guests here in the lobby.” Then she added, most certainly directed at Asahi, if the pointed look meant anything, “Remember, try to keep out of trouble.”

“Got it!” She smiled in response. Fuyuko spoke with someone at the front desk, then her, Jun, and Rin went through a door further into the building, leaving Asahi with Rei and Hyuga.

Asahi looked around while Rei and Hyuga sat themselves in some available chairs. The lobby wasn’t anything special, really. There were some sign boards and pamphlets talking about what the did there, but it was pretty standard. Pretty much what you’d expect from somewhere like this. She was somewhat disappointed, though not too much. She had far better Kaiju, ones that could be small and cuddlable, thank you very much.

It was honestly getting a bit boring. Maybe she could sneak and summon Nova or Bemstar and cuddle them under her cardigan? Probably not, but if it weren’t for the countless questions it’d bring up, she’d be tempted to try.

Then someone grabs her shoulder, “Hey, Asahi.” She spins around to see Tomomi giving her a grin. In his other hand is his notepad, a pen clipped to the spiral binding. With his free hand, he adjusts his glasses. “What brings you here?”

Asahi glances over at Rei and Hyuga. Hyuga is flipping through some magazine or other, Rei seemed to be entertaining himself by looking out the nearby window. “Something from another dimension appeared, and since no one knew what it was, I came along, in case it was a monster.”

“What was it then?” She could she Tomomi fiddle with the pen on his notepad, something she’d learned meant he really wanted to take notes, but was resisting.

She nods her head towards Rei and Hyuga, “Those two and their little ship. They’re pretty interesting.” But she doesn’t continue. Instead, she asks, “What about you? While I know you love Kaijus, I’m still curious as to why you’re here.”

He laughs, bring his free hand to scratch the back of his head, “I’m doing an article about Red Kings and their mating. A piece to debunk the myth that Red Kings are exclusively male.”

Asahi squints at him, “Then why are they called Red _Kings_?”

With a shrug, he responds, “Beats me.”

They continue to talk about various things until the ground shakes. Asahi places a hand against the wall to regain her balance, looking up to Tomomi. “Is that normal?”

He shakes his head, “No way! It might be an earthquake, or it could be-”

His comment is finished by someone running through a door and yelling, “Kaiju!”

Asahi sighs, “That answers that,” Without any more delay, she runs through the front door, startling Hyuga. Along with Rei, they had stood, and now looked surprised at the door she’d run through. She couldn’t tell much more before she ducked out of sight and transformed, searching for the monster.

She spots it a few miles away, hardly any distance at this size. It was a black color, with a tall horn on the top of its head, with yellow eyes. It shakes its arms, its claws and roars, stomping on the ground, shaking it again. It sees her and charges, head lowered, pointing its horn at her. She manages to dodge out of the way, grabbing at it and kicking. Her attack didn’t do much.

In front of the conservation, she can see Tomomi with Rei and Hyuga behind him. She can hear Tomomi call out, “Arston! It has extremely thick hide and can use the horn on its head to stab. But most importantly-“

Grigio has to dive out of the way of an incoming fire ball. It lands into some trees in the distance, setting them on fire. Not good.

“It has fire…” He finished, “But listen, Arston can fire a beam that’s as hot as magma! Don’t get hit with that or you might be extra burnt toast!”

Yeah, after her last fight with a fire wielding Kaiju, Grigio was in no hurry to reenact that sort of fight. Arston here was, arguably, worse than Pandon. A beam as hot as magma? No thank you! She’d just have to tie it up fast.

It didn’t seem like Arston was being controlled by Kenshin, so it ought to be pretty easy. At least, that’s what she’s thinking as she dodges out of the way of several more fire balls. She finally just has to throw up a barrier. Besides, that gave her time so she could summon some Kaijus to help her. She begins to pull out a Crystal-

With a roar, a yellow Kaiju with dark spots came rushing in, grabbing Arston and seemingly electrocuting it, disrupting its barrage of fireballs. Where did that come from? Then, with a squawk a bird Kaiju appears, aiding the first one in attacking Artson.

Grigio honestly knows nothing about either of the Kaijus that appeared, but she wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Seeing how preoccupied Arston was, she quickly gets Cosmos’ Crystal.

“Girgio Calming-“ She runs up to Arston, by the first Kaiju and under the second, then swings her leg, “Kick!”

The calming energy flows from her into Arston and the monster quickly calms down. That was nice, she didn’t even need to tie it up or anything. The other two Kaijus, the ones that had helped her simply disappeared. That was weird. But she needs to get back to the others, she’d worry about the mystery Kaijus later. She jumps into the sky and flies off a distance, far enough that no one could see her become Asahi again.

She had to run quite a bit, though, to get back to the conservation. Tomomi, Rei, and Hyuga were all still standing out there. Tomomi smiled at her, giving a wave, though he seemed curious and she could easily figure out about what.

But it was Hyuga who spoke first, “Are you alright?” He asked, “You ran off when that Kaiju attacked.”

“I’m fine!” She smiled in response, “I just… had to do a few things. Nothing to worry about!”

“What I’m curious about,” Tomomi said, closing his eyes in thought, “Is where those two Kaijus came from. The Eleking and Litra. Those weren’t Grigio’s.”

“Maybe their new one of hers?” Rei offered, though he and Hyuga seemed a bit nervous. Or maybe Asahi was imagining things. “You also have an Ultra here, huh?”

“Yeah!” Asahi cheered, “Ultrawoman Grigio!”

She thought for a moment, hadn’t they said their Earth used to have Kaijus? “Oh,” She wondered aloud, “Has your Earth ever had a Kaiju?”

“Their Earth?” Tomomi asked, though didn’t get an immediate answer.

“Several,” Hyuga answered, “But much like there hasn’t been Kaiju there in a while, there hasn’t been an Ultra either.”

“Although,” Rei adds, “You can still run into them in space. Depending on your luck.”

“Wait,” Tomomi cut in, “Can we go back to the ‘their Earth’ part? Are you saying their also from another world?”

“Also?” Rei echoed, sounding surprised.

“Anyway!” Asahi cut in herself, though she nearly was becoming overwhelmed. “Those Kaiju! Even though Grigio can summon Kaijus to work with her, we’ve never seen those before and she’s never fought either of them. So where did they come from?”

There’s no real response, everyone has all their own questions and the ones that someone does has an answer to, those answers aren’t being given. So the four of them all just sort of… stand there. In silence. How awkward.

Then the doors to the conservation’s main building open and out comes Matsuoka, followed by Fuyuko, Jun, and Rin. “Is everyone alright?” There are nods of affirmation, then he continues. “Wonderful.”

“I’m Matsuoka,” He introduces and turns to Hyuga and Rei, “You are our guests, right? Captain Hyuga and Rei?”

Hyuga nods, “Yes, I take it you’re their captain?”

Matsuoka chuckled, “Yes. I hope Fuyuko didn’t come off too… serious. She takes her job very seriously and with myself gone, she could nearly have had a situation on her hands.”

A head shake in response, “No, she was fine.”

“I hope that Arston that appeared just now didn’t cause too much of a scare…” Matsuoka glances to Asahi, before returning his attention to Hyuga and Rei, “And hopefully Grigio dealt with it quickly enough.”

“Yeah,” Tomomi spoke up, catching Matsuoka’s attention, “Except she got help from some Kaijus. Ones that have never shown up before.”

Jun shrugs, “Maybe they were just some nice monsters in the area who didn’t appreciate all the fire.”

Tomomi rolls his eyes, “Maybe. One problem there, though.”

“…What?”

“They really just appeared and disappeared. Not like, walked or ran or flew. Just appeared and disappeared.”

“That is odd,” Matsuoka hums, “But a question for another time.”

\---

Another drive and everyone was back at KPaRS’ base, barring Tomomi who was still at the conservation. Hyuga and Rei hung around the main room, along with Matsuoka and Fuyuko, who were currently talking about something or other. Jun and Rin had left to do something elsewhere, and Katsuhito and Chikako were both working on repairing the Dragon Speeder.

Occasionally, Asahi, Hyuga, and Rei would talk, but they quickly seemed to run out of topics. Mostly because Asahi couldn’t answer half and questions about this world and really messed up when she made some comment about AizenTech and Fuyuko points out how she’s never heard of a company called that. There was only so much Asahi could think to ask Hyuga and Rei about.

So she sat in a chair, wondering if she should maybe just return to Tomomi’s apartment. Then, Sodom and Bemstar both seemed to have decided it was cuddle time, appearing in a flash and settling in her lap. She pulls the sides of her cardigan around them, hoping that from the angle Rei and Hyuga were at, they woudn’t be able to see the two Kaijus.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side, it seemed. Rei looked over and went wide eyed. “Are those…?”

Asahi chuckled slightly, “Ah, right. This is Bemstar and Sodom. They do this sometimes, just kinda decide its cuddle time.”

Hyuga blinked, “You can summon Kaijus,” He noted, “Like Rei.”

“Er, well, yes,” She stumbled, “Like I said they do this sometimes – wait. Like Rei?”

She eyes Rei for a moment, before jumping out of her chair, startling him. “You’re!” She exclaimed, “You’re where those Kaiju came from! Eleking and Litra, they’re yours, aren’t they?”

Her outburst caused Matsuoka and Fuyuko’s attention to turn to the three of them. Hyuga had a concerned look on his face while Rei looked wary.

“…Asahi…?” Fuyuko asked, a lilt of concern in her voice.

“Wait.” Asahi’s mind was, admittedly, going a mile a minute trying to process this new information. Because it created so many more questions. “How? I can summon Kaijus with Crystals and my Gyro, but how can you?” Silently, she hopes she hasn’t picked up someone who was like Aizen and Saki, using the power to summon monsters to cause trouble. Rei seems nice, sure. But the same could be said about Aizen, and look at what Orb Dark Noir Black Schwarz did. Of course, they said they didn’t have Ultras on their Earth much anymore, so that wasn’t super likely. But they also said you could encounter them in space.

“It’s a thing he can just sort of do?” Hyuga offered, “With his Battlelizer.”

Asahi takes a deep breath, “Okay, so let’s all agree not to try to understand these things because that’s a lot of work.” Then she gives Sodom and Bemstar each a pat on the head, “But uh, thanks for helping m – Grigio. Her and fire have had some less than pleasant experiences.” She thought she did a rather good job catching her near mistake.

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Uh…” Okay, so maybe she didn’t do as good as she thought she had. In her defense, this was all pretty new to her, really. She didn’t have to constantly stop monsters back in Ayaka. Or deal with people from other worlds randomly appearing. Or possessed Kaiju. “Well…”

Rei tilts his head, “You are Grigio, aren’t you?”

“Gyah!” Asahi jumps back slightly, “How’d you figure it out?”

“You didn’t do a very good job hiding it. You were gone when Grigio fought Arston and the fact that both you and Grigio can summon Kaijus is pretty telling.” Rei explained, crossing his arms, “Not a lot of Ultras we’ve met use Kaijus.”

“Have you met a lot of Ultras?” She asks, and she’s rather curious.

“A few,” Hyuga replies, “Here and there. I’d argue Rei particularly has some interesting luck when it comes to them.”

“Cool,” Asahi comments, “My brothers – their Ultras too – they’ve met quite a few. But I’ve only really met their friends briefly, Geed when he stumbled into our world, and… Zero, I guess. For a bit there. That whole thing was really not happy though.”

Rei and Hyuga have a look of surprise on their faces, “You’ve met Zero?”

“I think a lot of people have met Zero, it seems like he gets around.” She shrugs, “I take it you guys have met him?”

“A couple times,” Hyuga sounds a bit exasperated when he says that, “It’s been interesting to see how he’s grown, though.”

“How he’s grown?”

“When we met him, he’d just gotten out of a long punishment training session,” Hyuga laughed, “Last time we saw him, though, he had a whole team to himself, real friends it seems like.”

Asahi tilts her head and hums, “I’d have never guessed.” Then she gives a big smile, “But that seems really happy!”

“Might be a bit more if we actually saw him when things weren’t going badly,” Rei comments.

“Tell me about it.”

Hyuga takes a moment before asking one last question, “By what your friend had said, does that mean that you’re also from another world?”

Asahi gives a sheepish nod, “I fell through portal to her, pretty much.”


	16. This Wish That Was Born From Our Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the bit a chopped into another chapter

Asahi, Hyuga, and Rei were greeted with what could only be called an interesting sight the next day when Asahi lead the other two into where Chikako and Katsuhito were working on the Dragon Speeder. And by interesting sight, that meant that Chikako was attempting to balance on Katsuhito’s shoulders, while Katsuhito himself was trying desperately not to lose his balance on a ladder. Chikako was ranting about something, judging by the way she was gesturing wildly, which only really made them less balanced. They seemed to be working on something on top of the Dragon Speeder, or at least that’s what Asahi could assume. What else could they need a ladder for.

“I mean seriously,” Chikako raved, throwing an arm outwards. Beneath her, Katsuhito grasped one hand on her ankle and the other on the ladder, clearly struggling to keep balance. “How much weirder can this engine get?”

The ladder wobbled ever so slightly. Katsuhito looked very nervous. “Okay, that’s great Chi-“

“No it’s not.”

“Whatever! But can you maybe, like, shake less?” He sighed, “Or at the very least use the taller ladder and let me down.”

“But why go through the trouble to find the taller ladder when you’re just the right height?” Chikako whined, huffing and crossing her arms. The ladder shook and wobbled again, resulting in Katsuhito’s expression to shift to something close to fear.

“Because you’re gonna make us both fall!”

Asahi felt like now would be a good time to say something. “Are you two… Alright?”

She immediately regrets asking anything at all, because Chikako twists around to look at her, completely ignoring how that action caused Katsuhito to lose his balance, nearly sending both of them falling down. He looked terrified now.

“We’re good!” Chikako grinned, though she began to climb down Katsuhito and then the ladder. Katsuhito let out a very audible sigh of relief, before following her down. He shot the ladder a very strong glare.

“Right…” Asahi wasn’t entirely convinced of that. Or very much at all, but it got them down from that precarious position, so it was fine. “How’s repairs coming?”

“Pretty good!” Chikako beamed, “Except this engine’s so weird!” She spins a wrench in between her fingers. Everyone inches a little farther away from her.

Katsuhito gives her a look, though there’s no way she can see it with her back to him. “Chi, that’s not the engine.” He says, tone serious but also exasperated.

She spins around, “It’s not?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for an hour. It’s not even broken.”

She makes a face, “Oh,” She leans her head back and continues, “That explains a lot.”

Hyuga leans over to Asahi, “Should we really be letting these two fix the Dragon Speeder?” He asked quietly, keeping a wary eye on them as Katsuhito explained what Chikako had been looking at.

With a sigh, Asahi responds, “I swear, this is just what they do. It should be fine.”

Chikako spins around once more, “Anyway! I’m like, ninety-five percent sure nothing will explode by the time we’re done.”

“Uh…” Asahi didn’t know how to respond to that. Hyuga looked perhaps more wary, and Rei seemed rather concerned.

Katsuhito sighed, “If anything blows up, it will be while we’re working on it and exclusively in Chi’s face. Nothing to worry about.”

“Shouldn’t you be worried about it blowing up in her face?” Rei asked, slowly.

“No,” Katsuhito doesn’t seem at all concerned. He speaks as though this is a normal occurrence. Asahi hadn’t known them too long, so maybe it was. “She’s fine whenever it happens.”

While not entirely convinced, Asahi decided it would probably be fine. If it’s happened before and she was fine, which is what he was implying, then it should be fine now. “If you say so…” She sighed, “Though I imagine having thing explode in your face would be pretty unhappy.”

“Don’t worry about,” Katsuhito smiles, “We’ll be done by tomorrow at the latest, though. You guys can do whatever, we’ll let you know when we’ve finished.”

“Thank you,” Hyuga said, though Chikako just leaned over – in what most would consider a painful way – and waved a hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it! Happy to help!” She grinned, then grabbed Katsuhito’s arm, “Now, let’s get back to work.”

Asahi watched for a moment as Chikako dragged Katsuhito back over to the Dragon Speeder, before turning around. She glances at Hyuga and Rei, “We should probably go.” There’s a crash from somewhere, she’s not sure where, and she winces. “Yeah, definitely.” Rei nods in agreement and the three return to the main room.

And soon they returned to one of Asahi’s common pass times. Sitting in spare chairs waiting for something interesting to happen or for someone to think of an interesting topic for conversation. Asahi liked to spice it up by shifting into all sorts of positions, seeing all the ways she could sit without tipping the chair.

“Should you really be doing that?” Rei asked after observing her shifting positions for several minutes. Currently, she was in a position that placed her balancing the chair on it’s back legs, the front a few inches off the ground.

“It’s fine,” She replied with a grin, “I just have to make sure not to lose balance and I have pretty good balance!”

_Crash!_

She startles, shifting her balance slightly wrong and the chair pitches backwards, depositing her on the floor. Rei opens his mouth to say something, but is stopped by Jun rushing in, Rin following close behind.

Matsuoka looks to a member of KPaRS, Hisoka, who was quickly tapping away at his keyboard. On one of the screens on the wall, a camera feed appears, showing a Kaiju stomping around, bashing buildings with its tail and pincer like claws. There was a heavy fog, making it hard to tell much of the details of the Kaiju, but it seemed like it was a muddy brown in color, its whole body ribbed, while its head had parts on top that extended out the sides. Asahi hadn’t missed how there seemed to be a lingering aura around the monster and in the fog. So this was Kenshin’s doing.

Hisoka spoke up, “Due to the fog we aren’t able to get a positive match to the Kaiju identity,” Alongside the feed was a profile, “But we believe it to be Sadola, who can emit a fog much like the one we see now.”

Matsuoka read the profile quickly, then frowned, “We can’t send the ship out in that fog, especially if this is Sadola. Not only will out communications be jammed, but it would mess with the instruments.”

That meant… “Then I’ll have to take care of it myself.” If this were a Kaiju simply rampaging for normal reasons, that’d be fine. But she was certainly going to have a time trying to stop this one. She’d just have to use her Kaijus help, assuming they could do much.

Then Rei steps forward, “I’ll help you,” He said, pulling a device from his pocket. It was shaped curiously like a beetle. “Between you and your Kaijus, it should be easy enough.”

Asahi looked at him for a moment, “This Sadola is being controlled by someone.” It felt only right to inform him.

“So?” Was his response, “We’ve faced monsters like that before.”

She gives him a smile and pulls out her Gyro, the Grigio Crystal in her other hand. “Right, let’s do this! Color me with your power, Grigio!”

When she lands in front of Sadola, she summons Regina to help her. On her other side, appeared a Gomora, which she assumed must have been Rei’s. She spares it a glance, but quickly focuses on Sadola. It roars and charges, raising its pinchers. She pivots and narrowly dodges, wincing as its pincher sink into a building, grasping and tearing through it.

She moves and puts some distance between herself and Sadola while Gomora and Regina moved closer to it. Regina swings her tail while Gomora grabs at Sadola. Sadola attempts to grab Regina’s tail, but gets blasted by her missiles. Then, Sadola tries to swing its own tail at both Regina and Gomora, though Gomora grabs it. The two Kaijus move away.

“I think it should be close to being defeated,” Grigio said, “But we have to find some way to stop Kenshin’s control!”

In response to her comment, Gomora fired its Super Oscillating Wave and Regina breathes out flames. The dark aura around Sadola was pushed out and away. There, now she could calm it with the power of Cosmos!

“Grigio Calming –“ She summons her bow and fires an arrow, “Arrow!”

When the arrow landed on Sadola, it calmed. It looked around for a moment in confusion. Then, as though it knew it didn’t belong there, ran off and out of the city, presumably back to where it came from, taking its fog with it.

Three lights appear, flying around her briefly. They were small and Grigio had seen lights like them before. They continue to fly around her until she grabs them. Soon in her hand were three Crystals.

With a smile, she throws an arm into the air, “Happy!”

Regina and Gomora disappeared and Asahi returns to KPaRS’ base, returning with a smile. She approaches Rei, “Thanks for helping,” She said with a grin. Then, while still grinning, she presents the three Crystals she just got, “And look! We match!”

Rei picks up one of the Crystals and examines it, before returning it to her palm and looking at the others. “So we do,” He agreed.

Asahi closed her palm around the three Crystals, Gomora, Litra, and Eleking. Certainly more than she was used to getting at once. She went from four Kaiju Crystals to seven, which was surprising. But it was okay, because that meant she had more help for calming Kaijus and stopping monsters.

\---

The next day, the Dragon Speeder is repaired. Curiously, some kind of wormhole or portal opened in space, not too far from the Earth, much like when Rei and Hyuga appeared. So, without much ado, they waved goodbye to the pair as they took off in the Dragon Speeder, hopeful to return home.


	17. It's Time to Realize, It's Time to Open Up Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh, looks who's back. I wonder why he's here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had like, four possible names for this chapter that were all different.

Asahi was balancing precariously in a chair again, this was the one she always sat in and had practically claimed. Not that any of these spare chairs got used all that much. KPaRS really didn’t have a lot of people stop by who weren’t working at this base. Occasionally, someone might comment about her choice of pass time, but they certainly weren’t going to stop her. Many of the members of KPaRS were actually somewhat amused by her antics. Currently, she had Nova hanging out on her head. Someone had actually mistaken him for a hat once, when he’d been perched on her head before.

Then Rin enters, a cup of tea in hand. They walk as they normally do to go to their desk, but stop for a moment by her. They look at her, “Hey Asahi, I think there’s someone asking for you in the lobby?”

Asahi tilts her head in confusion, “You think?”

Rin shrugs, “Well it’s some guy in a suit asking for the, and I quote, ‘excessively cheerful orange brat’.” They take a sip of their tea, “You’re the closest one to that description around here I can think of.”

Who exactly would describe her that way? Asahi wracked her brain while she thanked Rin and let the chair fall back into a normal sitting position. With Nova still on her head, she began to walk to the lobby.

Let’s see, who all did she know around here? Pretty much everyone she knew would actually call her by her name, though. Certainly not something like “excessively cheerful orange brat”. While she was sure that there were plenty of people who thought she was too happy – something she thoroughly believed impossible, thank you – she wasn’t actually sure if she’d ever been called a brat. Maybe that’s what she ought to focus on. Who would call her a brat? That list was pretty – no, extremely – short. As in, she was struggling to actually come up with anyone.

She’d made it to the lobby now, eyes scanning for anyone she recognized. It wasn’t exactly a large lobby, so it really shouldn’t be too hard. Especially because she didn’t really know all that many people on this Earth. She walks around a bit, before she finally does see someone she recognizes. Someone she’s surprised to see. Rin had mentioned it was someone in a suit.

“Mr. Juggler?” She blinked, trying to stare, hoping her confusion and disbelief wasn’t horribly obvious. “…Why are you here?”

He turns slightly to face her and huffed, “About time you showed up. I’ve been waiting for a while now.”

“Uh… sorry?” She offered. Mr. Juggler’s presence was quite the surprise, given she was pretty sure he didn’t like her. Which made the fact he seemed to be looking for her all the stranger. “But seriously, why are you here?”

He rolled his eyes, “Because Naomi thinks that _Gai_ is better at things than I am.”

“…Okay…?” What did that have to do with anything?

Then she realized that his comment was just the beginning of a rant. “She thinks that I can’t do nice things. That I can’t actually be _good_ unless it benefits me – which is absurd. I can be good if I want to be. I just don’t normally want to be. So that’s why I’m here. To show her I can be just as much of a ‘good guy’ as Gai.”

“And… and what does me and being here have to do with being a… being a ‘good guy’?” Asahi asked, almost afraid of the answer. After all, Mr. Juggler was an… interesting character. Who was also very petty, as she was constantly being reminded.

He gives her a look, one that she very much does not like. Then he… not exactly smiles, but it’s similar, “You got a Crystal from me, didn’t you?”

“I… I did?” She has to think back a bit. She did pick up something, after fighting Nova and after he and Mr. Gai left. It was a Crystal, wasn’t it? And it had been Mr. Juggler’s, now that she thought about it.

She digs into her pocket and pulls it out, holding it up and looking at it. “Oh yeah,” She nodded, “I forgot about this.”

That seemed to annoy Mr. Juggler, briefly, though he hid it as quickly as it appeared. Instead, he put on a clearly forced smile, “Right. Well. I’m going to teach you how to use it.”

“But, Mr. Juggler,” She began, at this point not even trying to hide the trepidation in her voice. He may be like a dog who can smell fear, but there was no point in trying to hide it either, at least at this point. “I don’t _know_ what it does.”

He scoffed in response, rolling his eyes, “Don’t worry about that,” He grabbed her wrist and turned, tugging at it as he began to walk, telling her to follow. With a sigh she did, it wasn’t like she had much choice. Besides, it’s not like this could hurt, right? He probably wouldn’t even be doing much, given there was no way he knew for sure what the Crystal did. Right?

“When I’m done,” He said, sounding rather smug, “You’ll be perfectly capable of using that Crystal.”

“Uh, that’s… Nice,” She decided it was probably best to go along with him and simply choose her words carefully. “But again, how can you know what the Crystal does?”

“Because it’s a Crystal of _me_.” Was his response as he continued to drag her out of the lobby. He didn’t say much else as he dragged her further, leading her farther and farther away from KPaRS. Soon they were outside the city.

Asahi hazard a question, “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere that we won’t draw attention.”

Somehow that didn’t make her feel any better. Maybe it was because she still had no clue what precisely Mr. Juggler had planned. He said he was going to teach her how to use his Crystal, but he didn’t really say what that meant. It couldn’t be anything too bad, though… Right? Then again, Mr. Juggler was an… interesting person, so it was hard to say just what he would and wouldn’t do.

He stopped when they arrived in some kind of clearing – well the she supposed the more accurate descriptor would be a cleared part of a quarry. She glanced around, when had they even gotten near one, let alone one with no one in it at this time of day? Mr. Juggler himself took a cursory look around.

“I suppose this will have to do.”

“A quarry?” She asked, “One that, somehow, doesn’t have anyone in it, in the middle of the day?”

He scowled, “You’re thinking too hard about it. Don’t.” He takes a deep breath, tilting his head back before returning his gaze to her, “Now use the Crystal.”

Well, she didn’t think this could go too badly. She pulls the Crystal out and her Gyro, activating the Crystal’s power. Then immediately jumped back with a startled screech as a sword appeared falling to the ground in front of her. Mr. Juggler watched unimpressed.

“Go on,” He said, “Pick it up.”

“Pick it up?” She echoed, hesitantly picking up the sword. She held it gingerly, as far away from her as she could. “What am I even supposed to do with this?”

With a sigh and roll of his eyes, Mr. Juggler crossed his arms, “You’re going to learn how to use it. Then you can have a weapon when fighting monsters.”

She looks from the sword up to him, “But Mr. Juggler, I already have a weapon,” She said, “I have my bow.”

“You already have a weapon?” He throws his head back and laughs, taking a good minutes before he continues, “Ah yes, your pathetic little bow. Yes, very much a weapon.” He sounds like he’s mocking her. Which he kind of is, okay maybe very much. But she was a bit confused as to why.

“Well,” He continued, leaning forward a bit, bringing him closer to eye level with her. “You should learn how to use a more respectable weapon. One that isn’t a coward’s weapon.”

Asahi blinked, “Uh…” She wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. “I mean… My bow’s worked pretty well so far…”

With a scoff and a roll of his eyes, Mr. Juggler produced his own sword, from somewhere, “Well regardless,” He began, “Today, you’ll be learning a new weapon.”

Then he ran at her, swinging his sword. She yelped and barely dodged out of the way. “What the hell?”

He turned to face her again, “What better way to learn than by necessity?” He brandished his sword and swung again. This time, she managed to – well not so much block it as deflect it. “Or is it you’re having second thoughts?”

Dodging out of the way of a thrust, she responds with clear panic in her voice, “How about that last one?” She manages to sort of block the next swing, but she really didn’t know what she was doing. “Although I’d have to disagree with the first! It’s a very unhappy method!”

“Oh really?” Mr. Juggler laughed when he asked that. It was about then that Asahi was reminded that for everything he was, Mr. Juggler did not seem to be neither the most sane nor the most stable person. Perhaps the first was a side effect of the latter, but it didn’t really matter in the moment. Because she had no clue what she was doing and very much did not know how to deal with this.

“Yes really!” She yelped, though this time she braved a swing, though he easily blocked it. He used it as an opening to knock the sword out of her hand. It took her a moment to realized what had happened.

He tilts his head, eying her, “You did rather well,” There was something of a smile on his face, though it only counted as one when you were talking about him. Asahi couldn’t help the expression on her face, something most likely of confusion, surprise, and some amount of caution. She wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t going to try anything else.

“You literally just started attacking me.” If there was a small frown on Asahi’s face, that was fine. Sometimes, you had to ignore the happy in order to make it happier. If that meant using some other things, like annoyance, than that was okay. A little bit wouldn’t hurt.

“But you learned at least a little, didn’t you?”

She sighed, brushing some dirt off her socks, “That’s debatable.”

“Well then,” He points to where her sword lay on the ground, “We’ll just have try again.”

“Or,” Asahi raised her hands, “You could actually teach me some things, and then we can try again.”

He eyed her once more, contemplating her suggestion. Or at least she assumed he was. It was hard to tell with Mr. Juggler. She really hoped he’d go with it, because she really wasn’t sure his method was all that effective. Really, all it did was startle her.

“I guess we can try that,” He finally said, eliciting a sigh of relief from Asahi.

\---

Asahi trudges into Tomomi’s kitchen the next morning in all sorts of pain in places she didn’t even know could be sore. Even the training she did as Grigio to make sure she could protect Ayaka while her brothers were gone wasn’t this painful and tiring. When Tomomi noticed her, he looks concerned.

“Are you okay?” He asked, “You don’t even seem this tire after fighting as Grigio.” And he’s not wrong. Even the fights where she greatly losing and get’s plenty hurt have never left her nearly this sore afterward.

“My everything hurts.”

He stares at her for a moment, before asking, “Why…?”

“’Training’ with Mr. Juggler, yesterday.” She groaned, throwing her head back, “I didn’t know training could be so intense.”

“Surely it wasn’t that bad…”

She raises her head to look at him, “At some point he started throwing stuff at me, insisting I be able to hit them. He started throwing large rocks at me. I don’t even know how he lifted them.”

“Well…” Tomomi gave her a rub on the shoulder and a pat on the head, “At least you learned something?”

“Maybe. I’m not even sure. All I know now is pain.”

\---

As it turned out, no one missed how Asahi was much less cheery that day. She tried, really she did. It helped that by the time that she went over to the KPaRS’ base, she had already had several pieces of candy and two cookies. So she was feeling better, even if she was still very much in pain.

Which showed in how she was effectively flopped into a chair, Gomora and Regina cuddling into her chest, occasionally groaning. Litra was somewhere else in the room, presumably making a nest once again, as her previous one had been cleaned up by the custodial crew. After the fifth or sixth groan of pain from Asahi, though, Jun looked up from the computer on her desk.

“Are you okay?” She asked, “You’ve been awfully… groan-y?”

Rin taps their fingers on their desk, “Does it have something to do with that man who showed up yesterday?”

Asahi raises her head and shifts positions so she can more easily face Jun and Rin, “Mr. Juggler is, as it turns out, a very… Well his teaching methods are like his personality.” She squeezes Gomora and Regina closer to her, pouting, “Which means they’re very… interesting. And maybe a bit excessive.”

“Mr. Juggler?” Rin asked, “I presume that was the man from yesterday?”

She nods in response. Jun’s eyebrows raise, “So what exactly was he teaching you? And why?”

“Mr. Juggler has a Crystal,” Asahi explained, fishing the afore mentioned object out of her pocket to show the two, “Which just sort of… summons a sword. So he decided, that because he wants to prove he can be, and I quote, ‘a good guy’, he was gonna teach me how to use it.”

“And his teaching tired you out.” Rin finished, “Sounds like some training.”

“There were large rocks being thrown,” She pointed out, “I think that counts as, ‘some training’.”

“Large rocks?” Jun echoed, sounding very concerned, “What type of training is that?”

“Mr. Juggler’s, I guess.”

They all jump slightly as the door slams open, even Matsuoka, who was busy working at his own desk, looks up to see why. Katsuhito stands there, looking both annoyed and flustered. He stomps over to Asahi.

“Asahi, I beg of you, please get that man out of the lobby.”

She tilts her head in confusion, “Who…?”

“The smug man in the suit. The one who’s flirting with any guy in the lobby remotely near him.” Katsuhito gritted his teeth, “Preferably, before someone – possibly me – punches him.”

It takes Asahi a moment to realize who he’s talking about. “Oh,” She says, “Oh you mean Mr. Juggler.” She’s vaguely horrified because what was that about flirting with people?

“I don’t care who he is, he’s a terror to any man in the lobby.”

It was then Asahi realized that she had a choice. She could stay and let the poor people of the lobby be terrorized by Mr. Juggler’s apparent flirting, or she could go and suffer through another day of “training” from Mr. Juggler. Something that she really didn’t want to do given how much pain she was in. It was a very tough decision.

She looked over to Rin and Jun, “Do you think it’d be possible to convince him I’m not here?”

Jun gave her a skeptical look while Rin laughed. “Yeah,” Rin said, “I don’t think so.”

Asahi sighed, “I don’t think I can make it through another day of his so-called training. I can’t stand any more rocks being thrown at me.” In her arms, Regina huffed, clearly annoyed at Mr. Juggler.

Rin looks down at their computer, clicking away at something or other idly. Asahi sighed once again, deciding that she couldn’t just leave Mr. Juggler to menace the lobby. She’d just have to suffer through another day of training with him. Then she wonders how long he’s going to keep doing this. She not sure she can make it through another day of this, let alone more than that.

“Ah,” Rin voices, “I think I have a solution.”

Katsuhito walks over to their desk, looking at the computer screen. He smiles and laughs quietly, “Oh, that does need to get done, doesn’t it?”

Jun looks over herself, “But shouldn’t we wait for Fuyuko?”

“Fuyuko said she’d be over there in an hour or so, it should be fine,” Rin said.

Asahi was tempted to get up and walk over to see just what they were talking about, but at the same time, she was just in so much pain. Though she should probably get up soon anyway. With a sigh she shifts and begins the endeavor to get out of the chair. Soon, she was following Jun, Rin, and Katsuhito to the lobby. She had a feeling about this, though she wasn’t sure what the feeling was.

She spots Mr. Juggler, who was very obviously flirting with some poor glasses wearing business man who looked like he would very much like to leave. She can’t decide if she’d rather he notice her or not. Not that she really got that decision given Jun, Rin, and Katushito marched over, leaving her to trail behind.

“Ah, Mr… Juggler, was it?” Rin begins, a pleasant smile on their face. Mr. Juggler was distracted enough that the poor man was able to slip away, looking far more relieved than one might expect. “You’re a friend of Asahi’s, right?”

“No.” Mr. Juggler said at the same time that Asahi said “Kinda.”

He shoots her a glare, “You sure do like to take your time.”

Jun spoke next, “Actually, I’m afraid we need Asahi for something today, so she can’t go do… whatever it is you want her for.”

“Oh really?”

“I’m afraid so,” Katsuhito grinned, “But… if you’d like, you can come along.”

Asahi was very confused. She should have looked at that computer screen.

\---

As they stood outside of an old warehouse and Katsuhito began to explain why they were there, Asahi decided she really, _really_ , should have looked at that computer screen.

“It’s simple, really,” Katsuhito began, “We think there’s some Kaiju poachers here, so we need to go… undercover so to speak. The thing is, they only let people in skirts in. So, Asahi’s here because she wears skirts, Rin and Jun both wear skirts outside of work, and I have no shits left to give in that department.”

Jun turned to Mr. Juggler, looking thoughtful, “You’ll probably have to wait out here,” She said, “I can’t imagine you’d want to wear a skirt just for this…”

Whatever the plan was at that point, assuming those three even had a plan and weren’t just winging it the entire time, which was entirely possible, most likely went out the window when Mr. Juggler scoffed. “What is that supposed to mean?” He sounded slightly offended, odd enough.

“Well,” Katsuhito started, pulling several skirts out of a bag that Asahi hadn’t even noticed he had. “A lot of guys don’t like the idea of wearing a skirt. Of course, you might not be one of those, but I’d honestly be kinda surprised…”

Mr. Juggler snatched one of the skirts out of the hands of a surprised Katsuhito. “I’ll have you know,” He said with a snarl, “I look amazing in a skirt.”

Jun rolled her eyes but said nothing. Asahi just watched in a mix of amazement and confusion. Every time she thought she had a good idea of what Mr. Juggler was like, he just kept surprising her. She decided she wouldn’t point out of ridiculous he looked, simply pulling the skirt over his suit pants and leaving it at that. Though, she supposed Katsuhito did the same, while Jun and Rin at least ditched their pants afterwards.

When it looked like Katsuhito was about to say something about it, Jun shot him a glare, “I’m not running around with pants under a skirt. No way.”

“I have shorts on underneath,” Rin simply shrugged.

“Do you… do you always have shorts underneath your pants?” Katsuhito braved a question.

“Yes.”

Katsuhito didn’t end up saying anything else. Most likely because Jun didn’t stop sending him a withering glare until it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything more on the subject.

“So…” Asahi began, “Now what’s the plan?”

“We’ll need to split up, so as to not draw attention to ourselves. When entering present these,” She hands them each a card of sorts, “And pretend you totally know what you’re doing.”

Asahi raises her hand and asks, “What if they ask us a question or something?”

Jun paused for a moment, then shrugged, “Just wing it. Now all we have to do once we’re in there is look for evidence or something. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Mr. Juggler rolled his eyes, “You’ve never done anything like this before, have you?”

Katsuhito rubbed the back of his head, “That obvious?”

“Yes.”

Jun laughed, “Well this is what happens when you’re understaffed.” Then points at Asahi, Mr. Juggler, and Katsuhito. “You three can be a group. Rin and I will be another and meet with Fuyuko later.”

Katsuhito glances at Mr. Juggler, a concerned and contemplative look on his face. He looks like he’s about to say something, though quickly thinks better of it. Instead, he sighed and attempted to shove his hands in his pockets, only to realize their covered by the skirt. He looks mildly annoyed by that fact.

“Right then,” Jun smiled, oddly cheerful. Asahi suspected she enjoyed Katsuhito’s suffering. “We’ll go first, you follow in a few minutes or so.”

Jun and Rin made their way toward the side of the warehouse, leaving Mr. Juggler, Katsuhito, and Asahi standing there. There was silence for a moment, Katsuhito looking around while Mr. Juggler look irritated. Not anymore irritated than normal, though, but in contrast to Asahi and Katsuhito, it was much more apparent.

“This isn’t the worst way to spend time during the day,” Asahi noted with cheer, “Kaiju’s are really great and all. And I really can’t see a way this could go badly.”

Katsuhito turns to face her with a serious look on his face, “Don’t say that,” He placed his hands on her shoulders, “Don’t say that. If you say that, things will find a way to go badly.”

“Don’t be so… dramatic?” Off to the side, Mr. Juggler looked vaguely amused.

“The last time someone said ‘oh, this can’t go badly’, half a building burnt down.” Katsuhito seemed to be serious, though his comment made her curious as to what exactly happened to burn half of a building.

“Okay…?”

Katsuhito seemed satisfied that she had gotten the message. She sort of had, though she was still pretty confused about why it would be bad to think that things couldn’t go badly. Really, what was the worst that could happen? These were all just normal sized people, surely they all could deal with that if things stopped going as well as planned.

“I think we can go now,” He notes, looking at Asahi and Mr. Juggler. Pointedly, he shoots Mr. Juggler a look and says, “Don’t go scaring anyone you’re not supposed to.”

Asahi thought it was rather brave of Katsuhito to make that comment to Mr. Juggler, because even when he wasn’t being super scary, Mr. Juggler was just constantly intimidating. Either way, Katsuhito guides them towards the warehouse, fiddling with the card Jun had handed him.

When he approached the door, he was startled by the sight of two very scary looking women. One looked very bored, filing at her nails with a file, while the other was bouncing up and down. The second greeted them with a smile, “Ooh,” She cooed, “Lookey, Soba! Tol, medium, and smol!”

The other woman, Soba, glanced up for a moment before commenting in disinterest, “That’s nice, Ramen. Just check if they have the cards, yeah?”

“Okay-doke!” At that, Katsuhito shrunk back further, meekly presenting the card to Ramen. Asahi raised hers up with a grin, while Mr. Juggler huffed holding the card so it was visible.

Ramen glanced over the cards and gave each person a once over, before hesitating of Mr. Juggler. She eyed him for a moment, “Hey… You seem familiar.” She calls over to Soba, “Hey Soba! This guy look familiar to you?”

Soba sighed and looked up. The expression of disinterest disappeared off her face, replaced in an instant by something of fear. She grabbed Ramen’s arm, pulling her closer and hissed in her ear, “Ramen. Let him through. Or so help me you’ll get us all killed.”

Ramen nodded, now seeming a bit scared herself. She smiles, though this one is clearly more forced and let’s them through. As they walk past, Soba’s harsh whispers could be heard, though Asahi was unable to make out what was being said.

That was, admittedly, a concerning thing to hear. What exactly had Mr. Juggler done to make both of the women so scared of him, she didn’t know. And honestly, she figured it was better not to ask or worry about it, at least not too much. Mr. Juggler was a rather scary person, as well as the sort of person who wasn’t easily forgettable.

The inside of the warehouse was oddly clean, for what was suppose to be an abandoned warehouse. Though, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that this group or whatever of Kaiju poachers had been here for a while.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” Asahi asked Katsuhito, as quietly as she could so no one could hear her. There weren’t exactly a lot of people present, it was actually very easy to spot Rin and Jun, especially as they were still in their KPaRS uniform. Apparently, everyone here was blind, as they missed three people in a KPaRS uniform. That or they didn’t care. But as a consequence of the lack of people, it was very easy to hear people from farther away.

Katsuhito shrugged and whispered, “I have no clue. Something really obvious maybe? I don’t know,” He sighed, “Just something we can use as evidence.

“Something really obvious?” Mr. Juggler asked, then laughed and pointed to the center of the warehouse, “Like that, perhaps?”

Asahi and Katsuhito look to where Mr. Juggler was pointing, unsure of what they were looking at. It was large and a off white color, with some sort of pattern or other on it. It was so large, that it took up a large portion of the warehouse, barely short enough to fit under the roof. Asahi was frankly confused as to how they even managed to get it in the building.

“What… what is it?” Katsuhito wondered aloud.

“A Kaiju egg.”

Katsuhito jumped forward, stumbling to the ground, away from Fuyuko, who had walked up behind them. Similar to them, she was clad in a skirt, having elected to wear a pair of leggings underneath. She stood with her arms crossed, looking at Katsuhito in amusement.

“A Kaiju egg?” Asahi echoed in wonder, looking at the object in the center of room with new wonder.

“Yeah,” Fuyuko nodded, helping Katsuhito up from the floor, “And the main reason why we need to catch these guys as soon as possible.”

Asahi blinked, “I’m still not entirely sure what the plan is here.”

Fuyuko regards her for a moment, before sighing, “That’s fair. We need to find the poachers, they should be somewhere here, but they’re not just gonna reveal themselves.”

Mr. Juggler looked thoughtful when he asked, “Do you think a commotion would draw them out?”

Fuyuko thinks for a moment before conceding, “I imagine.”

Asahi wished Mr. Juggler didn’t come along. She saw the look on his face and recognized what it meant. That meant she had two choices, she could run – but he was faster than her, as she found the day before – or she could simply try to block his attacks and hope for the best. As she noticed Mr. Juggler already had his sword in hand, she decided the latter would be best. So quickly, she got her own sword, thanks to his Crystal.

Fuyuko pulled Katsuhito away while Mr. Juggler swung his sword, the expression on his face best described as scary and somewhat crazy. Asahi blocked it, something she’d gotten decent enough at the day before from his training. Unfortunately, she didn’t get all that good at much else, at least when fighting someone who actually knew what they were doing.

“Do you really have to do this?” She asked, still smiling despite the annoyance in her voice. She was not going to let him knock down her smile. This was nothing. She could manage this.

“But it’s such good training,” Mr. Juggler commented with a grin, thrusting his sword, “Very good training.”

“You’re the worst,” She responded, struggling to deflect the thrust. She hadn’t gotten too good at dealing with those either.

“Why thank you,” He actually had the gall to sound proud of himself.

“Seriously?!” Came the annoyed cry of Ramen, the cheerful woman from the door.

“We let you in all nicely,” Soba, the other woman, the one who looked bored, began, “And you do this?”

Mr. Juggler swung around to face them, sword still in hand, and grinned, “Ah, but it got you two to show up, didn’t it?”

Ramen stomped, looking particularly annoyed. She huffed and crossed her arms, “Oh you little-!” Soba grabbed her arm, as though to tell her to knock it off. With a huff, she ignored it, continuing, “We should just deal with you right now, right Soba?”

Soba sighed, “Ramen, don’t do anything rash.”

“Yes, listen to her Ramen,” Mr. Juggler waltzed around the room, running a hand along the Kaiju egg in the center, “It’d be a shame if something happened to this egg here…”

Fuyuko grabbed Asahi’s shoulder and hissed into her ear, “What is he doing?”

“I don’t know!” All Asahi could do was watch Mr. Juggler and hope for the best, “He’s really, really, weird.”

“No kidding,” Katsuhito snorted, “Guess we’ll have to sit tight and hope for the best.”

“Now, now,” Soba put herself between Mr. Juggler and Ramen, “Let’s all not do anything… rash, that we might… regret.”

“I don’t regret. You’re friend though?” Mr. Juggler points his sword toward Ramen, “She might.”

Though Ramen seemed annoyed, she was at least listening to Soba now. But as Soba seemed to be trying to placate both Mr. Juggler and Ramen, Ramen seemed to be inching toward something. There were some boxes by the one of the wall, Asahi had assumed they were empty… but then again, why keep empty boxes?

Soon Ramen was digging through one of the boxes, seemingly searching for something. Mr. Juggler caught it too, but not soon enough to stop her as Ramen pulled something out and threw it at Soba. A sword, and Ramen had a matching one.

“Ramen, take the girl,” Soba yelled, “I’ll take this asshole.”

It was about then that Asahi looked at her hand and remember she was still holding that damn sword. She was the girl. She recognized this quick enough to raise her sword and block Ramen’s strike. Behind her, Fuyuko and Katsuhito backed up, giving space. Which was very fair, Asahi wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a sword fight herself. Except now she had no choice but to be in one.

Brightside, her skills were marginally better when she wasn’t fighting Mr. Juggler. While Ramen clearly knew what she was doing, she wasn’t as good at fighting with a sword as Mr. Juggler was. That would make this whole thing much easier.

That first move was indicative of how most of their fight would go, though. Ramen would attack, Asahi would block or deflect. At least, until Ramen moved back slightly, trying to put some space between them. Then, Asahi swung, somehow managing to knock the sword out of Ramen’s hands. Ramen stared in disbelief for a moment before realizing what happened.

She glanced over to where Soba and Mr. Juggler had been fighting, only to realize that they’d long since finished, Soba sitting there in handcuffs courtesy of Jun and Rin. It was then that Ramen clearly realized she and Soba had lost, rather spectacularly.

Soon they were all outside the warehouse. Mr. Juggler discarded the skirt he’d been wearing on the ground, then rolled his shoulders. “Well,” He began, “This has been fun, but I really should be going.”

“Oh, thank god.” Asahi sighed in response.

If Mr. Juggler heard her, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he continued, “I have an even better way to prove I can be a ‘good guy’.” He smiled, in the way that Mr. Juggler smiled, “Anyway, I have quite a bit of work to do, so I imagine this will be the last you’ll see of me.”

And with that he walked away. Asahi was rather glad. She wasn’t sure how much more of Mr. Juggler she could take.

“And now,” Fuyuko said, “We have a Kaiju egg to get to the Conservation. Joy.”

While Fuyuko, Rin, and Jun walked away, talking about how to remove the egg from the warehouse, Katsuhito walked up to Asahi. He too had gotten rid of the skirt he’d been wearing, though he now held his phone in hand. He was grinning in an odd way.

“Hey Asahi,” He said, “I’m gonna send you some photos. Hold on to them for me, will you?”

“…Why…?” She asked as her phone pinged. She looked at her phone, taking in the photos Katsuhito had sent her. They were of when Mr. Juggler was fighting Soba. She looked up to him confused.

“Just in case,” He said, “I need something to use against him. So he doesn’t flirt with me again.”

“I think punching him would work better. Even if punching is not a very happy way to deal with things.”


	18. Holding Up the Light Within and With No Hesitation, To Give You a Future is All I've Wanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi meets some siblings who remind her of herself and her brothers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot about this. I got distracted by dnd.

Choko watched her little brother play with the other children at the park, just like she did when she took him to the park every day. He may have insisted that he didn’t need her or their oldest sister, Hiroko, to go with him, but at this point it was habit. Plenty of things could happen to him, so it wasn’t a crazy idea to just… keep an eye on him.

But there was something else that was bugging her too. Though this trip was just like many before it, though her little brother, Akimitsu, played with the children like he always did, something was different. At first, she wasn’t really sure what it was. Maybe there was a new child there? Or maybe someone who was usually there wasn’t? She wasn’t really sure.

She continues to watch the children play when she hears a bird caw. That was… unusual. She looks around, trying to find the source of the sounds. Sitting on the back of an empty bench was a crow, the source of the cawing. It moved one foot in front of the other along the back of the bench, then caws some more.

It wouldn’t have been that much of a cause for concern, but for some reason, Choko just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Or that something was about to be. So she stands up, returning her eyes to look for the children Akimitsu was playing with. Where was he? There he was, but he wasn’t with the other children. He was standing, staring at the sky.

“Akimitsu?” She asked, “I think we should be going.”

“Why?” He looked at her, though his face seemed almost… blank. “He’s here and he says that a show’s about to start. I want to see the show.”

“He?” Choko echoes, “Aki, who’s this ‘he’ you’re talking about? And what show?”

“My friend, the crow.” He points to the crow on the bench, “And he says that he’s about to put on a show. I want to see what the show is.”

“Well, Aki, I know you want to see this… show,” Choko gently grabs his hand, “But I really think we should be getting home.”

“But the show!” And with that cry, a roar thundered through the city, shaking the ground. A monster appeared, swinging and sending everyone running.

“Akimitsu,” Choko picked him up, though with a struggle, “We need to go.”

“I’m going to miss it!”

\---

The past few days had been hectic for Asahi, putting it lightly. Everyday, at about the same time, Kenshin – because it had to be Kenshin – made a monster appear. They weren’t particularly strong, but it was so often, she was pretty tired of it. Which was why she was once again flopped into her chair at KPaRS’ base, Eleking curled up on her stomach.

The only people in the room currently were herself, Eleking, Matsuoka, and Hisoka. Like her, Hisoka had been rather stressed lately as result of the Kaiju attacks. He’s been keeping a vigilant eye on all the cameras and sensors, identifying the Kaijus quickly after they appeared. He was only keeping a closer eye with the trend of monsters the past few days.

But currently, things were calm. She wasn’t sure where everyone else was, but she frankly didn’t care too much. It was quiet – and she couldn’t believe she was saying this – but that quiet was nice. Maybe it was just because of everything going on, but it felt nice just to sit in the chair and pet Eleking.

Which reminded her about everyone’s first few experiences with Eleking. He was like a puppy, always in need of attention. Now imagine that puppy but it shocked you every time someone other than its owner tried to touch it. That was Eleking. If anyone other than Asahi tried to so much as gently brush a finger on him, he electrocuted them. Not too badly, but enough that no one wanted to try touching him more than once. He did occasionally shock her, but it was never too badly.

The silenced continued, only really interrupted by Eleking’s chirps of content, Asahi’s coos, and the sound of keyboard clicking as Matsuoka and Hisoka worked. Until eventually, Hisoka hummed, blinking at his screen.

He tilts his head, thoughtful, before finally speaking up, “Well isn’t that interesting…” The comment is pretty quiet, but with such little noise in the room, it was easily audible. Asahi looked up at him from Eleking while Matsuoka looked to him in curiosity.

“What is?”

Hisoka took a moment to click a few more keys before responding, “We’ve got a bit of a curious report here, from two sisters who claim to be worried about their younger brother.”

Matsuoka tilted his head, “Why did they file it with us, then? Family relations aren’t really our area.”

“Apparently,” Hisoka began, “The boy has been saying strange things, effectively predicting the Kaiju attacks before they happen. This even seemed to have occurred earlier this week, before they were common, so they don’t think he’s just seeing the obvious pattern. They’ve added something about how he says a crow is his friend and there’s a show that he wants the boy to see. This show apparently occurs around or at the same time as the monster attacks.”

Matsuoka closed his eyes in thought, before deciding, “I believe some further investigation is needed.”

“But Captain,” Hisoka tapped his fingers on his desk, “By who? Jun and Rin have to be here in case of a Kaiju attack, Chikako and Katsuhito are busy making sure the plane is ready, and Fuyuko is home sick.”

“Well then…” Matsuoka taps his finger on his cheek for a moment, “I suppose Asahi and I will just have to investigate.”

Hisoka looked surprised at that. Then again, so was Asahi, not that she minded too much. Maybe this could tell them something about the monster attacks. Regardless, Hisoka nods, “Right then, the report was filed by Hiroko and Choko Maki,” He writes something down on a notepad and hands the Captain the paper. “You’ll find them there, their brother should be at school right now.”

\---

Asahi follows Matsuoka to an apartment in the city, presumably where the Maki siblings are living. He knocks on the door, patiently waiting for a response. The door opens to what appears to be a woman in her late teens or early twenties. She examines them a moment, looking confused, until eventually, the confusion disappeared, replaced with surprise.

“Oh, you’re from KPaRS?” She asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

“We are,” Matsuoka confirmed with a soft smile, “We’re here in response to a report filed by Hiroko and Choko Maki. Would you be one of those two?”

The woman nodded, “I’m Choko, Hiroko’s at work right now.” She looks away for a moment, “I’m actually surprised anyone came.”

“Surprised?” Asahi questioned, “Why?”

Choko looked flustered for a moment, “Oh, well, because it just sounded so crazy. But something’s up with Aki, really there is.” Then she seemed to realized that they were still in the hallway, “Oh, uh, come in.”

She let’s them in, though she still seems a bit nervous. “Is there anything you need from us or…?”

Matsuoka gave her a small smile, holding his hands behind his back, “We’d just like to ask you a few questions about your brother and these events.” Choko nods in affirmation and he continues, “Now, when did your brother start acting strange?”

“Monday afternoon,” She responds, “We were at the park when he started staring at the sky, saying his friend, the crow, had show he wanted him to see. We talked for a few moments about it and then the monster appeared. We filed the report yesterday afternoon, after the monster attack.”

“So this has happened four times before you finally decided that something was wrong?”

“Well, we knew something was up, we just didn’t know who to go to about it.” Choko explained with a sigh. She fiddled with a strand of hair, “Yesterday we finally decided that it must have had something to do with the monster attacks and to go to you guys about it.”

He nods, looking thoughtful, “Anything else odd?”

Choko looked hesitant, though something was clearly bugging her. She didn’t immediately responds, instead looking elsewhere in the room, as though doing so would provide her with a better answer. Finally, she relented, “Well, I don’t really know if it counts as odd exactly, but you see, he’s been really… distant? I guess. He’s ten now and he really wants to be a big kid, and Hiroko and I have always been a bit… Overprotective…” She pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath, “But despite that, the three of us have always been close, especially since our parents passed, and it just really doesn’t seem like him to suddenly just… Not want to be around us or talk to us.”

Asahi could understand the feeling. Her and her brothers were really close and she couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if one of them suddenly decided to want nothing to do with the other two. Somehow, she got the feeling this strange behavior of the brother’s went beyond simple independence, but it was hard to say just from Choko’s account.

“I see,” Matsuoka seemed to be in thought, “It certainly seems that things have been odd for you. While it appears that something is wrong, I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like this before."

“It has Hiro and I really worried,” Choko sighed, “Akimitsu’s always been a good kid, but this just doesn’t seem like growing pains.”

Well, Asahi decided, there was always two sides to a coin, so maybe it’d be best to hear what was going on from more than just Choko. “Could we talk with your brother?” Matsuoka looked surprised at her suggestion, though nodded in agreement soon after. Choko, on the other hand, look hesitant, twirling a stand of hair around her finger back and forth. “So we can try to weed out what just might be a kid being, well, a kid.” Asahi added, hoping to reassure her.

After a few moments of thought, Choko relented, “Okay, you’re right, it’d probably be good. If you can get anything out of him. I swear, everyday he just get’s more and more… well… less cooperative.” She sits at the table, flipping through the pages of a textbook. “He won’t be home from school for another hour or so. You can hang here or do whatever until then. I have to study.”

“Of course,” Matsuoka smiled, “We’ll be back in a little over an hour. We’ll figure out what’s wrong with your brother.”

Choko gave him a small smile, though she didn’t look all that convinced, “Thank you, I hope you have better luck than we did.”

With that, they left the apartment, with about as many answers as they’d entered with. If anything, they simply had more questions. Was this really just a child being a child, or was it something else? Was the boy’s odd behavior linked to the now daily monster attacks or was it just coincidence. Was something making him distant from his sisters or was he simply being a child who wanted to be more independent? There was so much they didn’t know.

“Well,” Matsuoka sighed, “All that did was highlight how odd this whole thing is.”

In response, Asahi sighed as well, “Agreed.” She takes a breath and closes her eyes in thought, “But if the three of them are really that close, why would he suddenly be acting different. That just seems really not happy.”

“He is a child, though,” He points out, “It wouldn’t be unheard of for him to suddenly decide he wanted to be more independent.”

“Yeah, but he’s also old enough to know it’d be easier just to tell his sisters to tone it down.” She countered, “I did that with Katsunii and Isanii and it worked… Admittedly they still sometimes get really overprotective, but it’s a lot less now.”

Matsuoka regarded her for moment, before stating, “But you and your brothers are closer in age. It’d be easier for them, especially since you’re already an adult.”

Asahi shrugged, “Still, it doesn’t quite add up, especially with the Kaiju attacks. How could he have known ahead of time?”

“You have a point there…” He concedes. Then he frowns, a look of concern on his face, “But the only one who knows for sure when those attacks would occur would be the one who was causing them.”

“Most likely Kenshin,” Asahi nodded, fiddling with the edge of her cardigan, “Which means that if this boy is actually being told when the attacks will occur, he’s being told by Kenshin.”

“And if that’s the case,” The look of concern morphed into full worry, “He could be in quite a bit of trouble without ever realizing it.”

She nodded in agreement, then sighed. “But we have no way of knowing for sure. Hopefully talking to him will clear some of these questions up.”

“Yes, hopefully.”

The hour and some odd minutes that followed was unbelievably long, amplified only by the worry of what this boy might have gotten into. It wouldn’t be his fault, he had no way of knowing, but it could still be dangerous. That was, of course, assuming this was actually anything at all. The only way they were going to find out was from Akimitsu himself.

But the hour and some odd minutes did pass and soon enough, Matsuoka and Asahi stood in front of the Maki apartment door once again. Choko answered it much like before and led them to where Akimitsu sat, doing his homework.

Matsuoka looked to Asahi, “I believe you might be best suited for this.”

“Right!” Asahi smiled, then walked over to the boy, “Hi! You’re Akimitsu, right?”

The boy looked up, blinked at her, then returned to his homework. “Yes.” He said plainly, his tone monotonous and his face emotionless.

“There’s some things I want to talk to you about,” She continued, “Do you think you can do that with me?”

“I’m busy,” Was his response, punctuated with a frown, “So unless you wanna talk about the show, I have better things to do.”

Choko sighed, “See what I mean? Difficult.”

Still, Asahi saw an opening, “Show?” She asked, “Actually, can you tell me about this show? It sounds interesting.”

Akimitsu looked up and there was a faint glimmer in his eyes. He sets his pencil down, “My friend the crow has been telling me about it,” He said, “But I keep missing it. Choko and Hiroko drag me home before I can see it.”

“What has your crow friend been telling you?”

“He says that it’ll be really cool and it’ll have Grigio and her really cool Kaiju friends.” He seems excited to talk about this so called show. But the more he described it, the more that she felt something of a sinking feeling. Because that didn’t exactly sound like a good thing. “And that’ll it’ll end in a big bang! But he won’t tell me much more. Just that I have to see it.”

“Well,” Asahi began, doing her best not to sound as concerned as she really was, “That does sound pretty cool. Can you tell me about your crow friend? It seems like you know him pretty well.”

He looks hesitant, as though he didn’t want to talk about the crow. She feared that she may have asked the wrong question and lost his cooperation. He seems to debate with himself internally before finally speaks up again, “I don’t actually know him much. I met him after we came back after the summer.” He admits, “But he didn’t start talking to me all that much until earlier this week.”

“Oh, okay,” Asahi gave him a smile, “That’s fine, sometimes friends can be people you’ve known a while but not very well until recently. That brings me to my next question; how have you been?”

Akimitsu considers her question, “I’ve been… Tired.”

“Tired?”

“And frustrated. I want to see the show, it sounds so cool! But Hiroko and Choko won’t let me!” He huffs, “Suddenly everything they do just seems so-!”

“Overbearing?” She offered. When he nodded she continued, “I know the feeling. I have two older brothers myself and their very protective. Once I met someone I was trying to help and they and our dad staked out trying to figure out if I had a secret boyfriend or something.”

He crossed his arms and puffs out his cheeks, “Older siblings are annoying.”

“Sometimes, yeah,” Asahi gives him a smile, “But they can also make you very happy! I know my brothers make me super duper happy, even when they’re annoying. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to them.”

Akimitsu considered her words briefly. He looked down at his homework for a moment before looking back up at Asahi, “I hope nothing happens to Hiro and Cho.”

Asahi tilts her head, “Why do you say that?”

He looks around, then leans up to her ear and whispered, “The crow says that if I miss more than seven of his shows, something bad will happen to Hiroko and Choko.” His lip quivers slightly, “That’s why I don’t want to miss the shows. But if they know, they’ll worry even more.”

“Then why do you want to tell me?” While she could understand him being afraid of telling his sisters, but it was odd that he was willing to tell a complete stranger, especially so easily.

His response is as quiet as his previous statements, “Because you’re Grigio, right? The crow said that Grigio was the lady I met during the summer, the one who agreed with me about working with the Kaijus.” He looked very serious when he continued, “And if you’re Grigio, then you can fix this, right? Because you’re a hero.”

It suddenly became very clear to Asahi just what they were dealing with now. This crow that Akimitsu had met, it had to be Kenshin. How else could he tell Akimitsu who she was? But why do this to the poor boy? Not that anything Kenshin did seemed to ever make sense but… This one really didn’t. All she knew was that it hit close to home… but was that the reason? Or at the very least the main reason?

“Akimitsu,” She said, her tone matching his seriousness, “I promise you, I won’t let the crow hurt your sisters. But I need you to promise me something.”

He nods his head hurriedly. Asahi doesn’t miss the looks that Matsuoka and Choko are giving the two of them. They can’t hear most of this conversation, it’s been too quiet and their too far away.

“Promise me,” She said, “That no matter what happens, you and your sisters will always care about each other. That no matter how bad things may get, now or years from now, that you’ll always have each other.”

“I promise,” He nods, in that way that only children under a certain age and still convinced of the whimsy of the world can. “Is there… is there anything else you need to know?”

She shakes her head, giving him a pat on the head, “Nope, we’re good. Thank you.” He nods determined then returned to his homework. Asahi walks over to Matsuoka and Choko, the former of which had been watching in interest, the latter concern.

“Did you figure out what’s going on?” Choko asked quietly, once again tugging at her shirt.

Asahi nodded and looked to Matsuoka, “It has to be who we thought it was.” She said, “So we should probably meet this crow friend of his.”

Choko sighed, whether in relief or concern was unclear, “Right, you can come with us when we go to the park. We’re going to wait for Hiroko to come back this time.”

\---

It was about seven in the evening when they all arrived at the park. Akimitsu looked around, searching for something, most likely the crow. Hiroko and Choko stood with Asahi and Matsuoka at the edge of the playground that Akimitsu was currently climbing about. He looked around before silently pointing to a tree.

Following his finger, in the tree, is a crow, preening at its feathers. It looks, by all means, to be an ordinary crow, though Asahi isn’t entirely convinced. Something about looks being deceiving? It jumped up, flying over to a nearby bench.

Hiroko crossed her arms, “Are we really thinking that a crow can actually talk?”

Matsuoka gave her a reassuring look, “It is entirely possible we’re not dealing with an ordinary crow.”

Then the crow cawed. While Asahi wasn’t sure what it sounded like to everyone else, she knew what it sounded like to her. A familiar voice calling out, “Ultrawoman Grigio…” It immediately set her on edge. That had to have been Kenshin, it certainly sounded like him.

“He sounds angry…” Akimitsu whimpered, running to hide behind Matsuoka. While a surprising action, it did make a certain amount of sense, given that he was worried about what Kenshin might do to his sisters.

“What do you mean?” Hiroko asked, “It’s a bird.”

The crow cawed again, though for Asahi and Akimitsu, it sounded less like a caw and more like laughter. Asahi reached into her pocket, grasping at the Grigio Crystal. If he tried anything, she’d be ready. She wasn’t going to let Akimitsu down.

“Let’s see how much of a bird you call this!” The crow soon transformed into a cloud of feathers and smoke, bellowing up to the sky, growing in size. Matsuoka pulled the three siblings back with him, farther away. Soon the dark cloud had reached it’s full size, taking on a humanoid shape.

The monster that appeared, seeming to be made of stone. The most striking detail of this monster was the three faces that appeared in a stack, like a totem pole. The bottom most, located on the abdomen, seemed to be solemn, the middle, located around where the neck would be on a human, seemed to be crazy, and the top most, located just a bit above where a head would usually be, seemed mad. Each face had red eyes and a bright blue sphere on its forehead. Extending from the area between the top and middle faces were sort of stone like wings that extended outward.

It laughed, a strange tripled sound in three different pitches. A high pitched, a low pitched, and a pitch in between.

Without delay, Asahi tightens her grip on her Crystal and takes out her Gyro. “Color me with your power, Grigio!”

Behind her, she can hear Hiroko and Choko gasp. “She’s Grigio?” She hears Choko say. Then she can hear Hiroko comment, “Somehow, I get the feeling that this isn’t even the most surprising part of today.”

Standing in front of the monster, she summons Regina and Litra to fight alongside her, bow in hand. As Regina fires her missiles, Grigio does similar, firing a barrage of arrows. With a laugh, the monster hops from foot to foot, and makes a movement with its hands. Suddenly, the missiles and arrows turn around, now moving away from it.

“What the hell?” Grigio yelps as she brings up a barrier, managing to stop the attack. Did this monster seriously just throw their attacks back at them?

It was about then that Jun and Rin arrived, making sure to keep a safe distance, for the moment. Grigio hears Jun call out, “We don’t have any record of this Kaiju! We don’t know what it can do!”

Grigio glances at the two of them, “Somehow it was able to send Regina and mine’s attacks back at us. We’ll need to be extra careful.”

She turns her attention back to the monster when it laughs once again, raising a hand out. In that hand, a curved object appeared, most closely resembling a boomerang. The monster throws it at Rin and Jun, the boomerang speeding at them. Grigio runs and barely manages to catch the boomerang before it hit their plane.

By now, Litra and Regina had disappeared in a flash of light, their time limit having been reached. That meant she only had two minutes left to stop this monster. She could do this, she just had to get creative.

Then finally, she hears a voice cry out, “Jasyuline, what are you doing!?” The monster, Jasyuline, pays Akimitsu’s cry no heed, but it was still strange. If KPaRS knew nothing about this Kaiju, then why did he?

“Aki,” She hears Hiroko start, “What do you know about that monster?”

There’s a rustling of paper and Akimitsu begins, “This is Jasyuline,” It seems like he’s showing something, “And I came up with him because I thought about how cool it would be for a monster that could be three people. So then they could all help Grigio.”

Matsuoka hums for a moment in thought, “So Kenshin took this Kaiju you came up with and made it real.”

“But Jasyuline isn’t supposed to be _fighting_ Grigio,” Akimitsu insisted, “They’re supposed to work together. He made it all wrong!”

Jasyuline began to charge something, energy gathering at its three heads. “Akimitsu!” Grigio called out, “What is it doing?”

Akimitsu yells his response, “Their gonna use Gol-Jasyura! When their done charging it, they’ll fire a beam from their wing things and anything it hits will be covered gold!”

Choko looks at him in confusion, “Why would you make them do that?”

The look he gives her tell plenty, “I thought it was cool!” Was his defense.

As the energy moved from Jasyuline’s heads to the stone wings atop them, Grigio quickly debated the best way to deal with this. Would a barrier work? Would it be better to try to dodge it? Then the beam fired and she realized she didn’t have anymore time to think. She barely managed to duck and roll out of the way, the beam hitting a building. Soon, the building was completely encased in gold. Well that was a narrow miss.

“We’re falling back,” Rin calls out, “We can’t risk getting near them.” That made sense. She’d just have to manage on her own.

Since projectiles didn’t work, that left her with only three options. Try to fist fight it, use Mr. Juggler’s Crystal, or try a Grigio Shot and hope for the best. Given she hadn’t even hit it once, it was probably best to try to use Mr. Juggler’s Crystal and try to weaken it. She quickly used the Crystal, a sword appearing in her hands. She takes the stance that Mr. Juggler had taught her to and prepared to fight it.

Moving closer to it, she swings the sword, though Jasyuline blocks it with use of their boomerang. She decides to take an aggressive approach, in hopes to do some kind of damage to the Kaiju. But with every swing, Jasyuline blocks it. Soon, Grigio is doing everything she can to block the attacks from their boomerang.

Her Color Timer is blinking now. She doesn’t have a lot of time left. She has to figure out how to turn this fight around, quick.

“You can do it, Grigio!” Akimitsu cries out as loudly as he can, clutching the paper with his drawing and notes of Jasyuline on it. “You’re a hero! And heroes always find a way to pull through, even when it’s tough!”

Beside him, Choko calls out, “You heard him! Aki looks up to you for a reason!” She places a hand on Akimitsu’s shoulder, “If he believes you can do it then so do I!”

On his other side, Hiroko smiles, “Since you’ve shown up, I’ve never seen Aki so inspired. You bring everyone in the city, hell, everyone in Japan hope!” She places her hand on Akimitsu’s other shoulder, “So don’t lose hope! Don’t give up! If no one else is, then the three of us are rooting for you!”

The paper in Akimitsu’s hands glow, the three siblings look at it in shock. The paper glows and glows, soon flying out of his hands and changing shape. It grows and grows, now taking on a form that they’ve all already seen. They all have been looking at it for this entire fight. The light lands beside Grigio.

As the light fades, it becomes clear what the paper had become. Standing beside Grigio was another Jasyuline, though slightly different. This one had yellow eyes as opposed to red. The faces looked different too. The bottom face looked serene, as opposed to solemn. The middle face looked happy, instead of crazy. And the face at the top looked determined, not mad.

This other Jasyuline, the one that came from Akimitsu’s paper, soon turned to the first Jasyuline, the one that Kenshin had summoned. Good Jasyu ran at Evil Jasyu, punching it. Soon the two Jasyuline were fighting each other, paying no mind to Grigio.

After a few moments of the two struggling, Good Jasyu managed to knock the other down, giving Grigio an opening. Sword in hand, she readies herself, channeling some power into the blade of the sword. Good Jasyu takes their place once again at her side, summoning two boomerangs. They throw the boomerangs as Grigio lunges, slashing at the Evil Jasyuline.

“Grigio Triple Slash!”

As the attacks lands, the Evil Jasyuline sparks for a moment, dark smoke and feathers rising in a plume out of it. Then it explodes, sending debris of rocks flying. Jasyuline, the good one, glows for a moment, before shrinking into a small round shape. But unlike previous Kaiju that became Crystals, Jasyuline didn’t fly to Grigio or anything like that. No, Jasyuline floats down to Akimitsu, landing gently in his hands.

Grigio returns to being Asahi, landing in front of Akimitsu, Choko, and Hiroko, with Matsuoka off to the side. The three siblings were staring at the Crystal in Akimitsu’s hands with looks of wonder. Akimitsu looked ecstatic, though.

He looks up at her, “That was amazing!” He grins, clutching the Jasyuline Crystal in his hand, “And this – _this_ Jasyuline is right! This is exactly what I imagined. Something that can help people.”

Hiroko looks at him, then up at Asahi, “I… Don’t really know what happened, but thank you.” She ruffles Akimitsu’s hair, “You’ve brought his spark back.”

Choko grinned, using both hands to aggressively ruffle his hair, “Yeah, look at you. Well on your way to becoming Akimitsu the hero.”

Akimitsu grins for a moment, almost proud. Then he looks down at his hands, at the Jasyuline Crystal. His smile faulters for a moment. Then, he holds out the Crystal, “You should take Jasyuline,” He said, “Their suppose to help you, after all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, let Jasyuline help you more,” He smiled, “But you should come visit sometimes. You’re really nice.”

Asahi takes the Crystal, the three faces of Jasyuline staring back at her. She looks at Akimitsu and grins, “You bet!” She slips the Crystal into her pocket, “It’s great that everyone is happy now!”

Matsuoka chuckled, “This is all wonderful, but we should be going.”

Akimitsu begins to wave, Choko and Hiroko joining soon after, “Make sure to stop by and say hi, okay?” Choko said.

“Take good care of Jasyuline!” Akimitsu called out, arm frantically waving left and right.

“Bye!” Asahi called out, waving back.

It was odd how Jasyuline came to be. On one hand, the one she thought was pulled from Akimitsu’s imagination and warped into a monster that wanted to cause harm by Kenshin. On the other hand, the one that she held the Crystal of now, that came from Akimitsu’s imagination as well. But this one wasn’t changed or anything. It seemed to have been created from the Maki siblings’ will. It took the shape of Jasyuline, but its power most likely came from the three of them.

That was the difference between the two. One was created to cause destruction and harm, a distortion caused by a single person. The other though, it was created by the will of three siblings whose bond was going to withstand so much. Its purpose would be to protect people, exactly like Akimitsu intended.

It made Asahi sad, though. She missed her brothers and seeing Akimitsu, Choko, and Hiroko did little to ease that feeling. If anything, it just increased it. Because they were so much like her, Isami, and Katsumi. And just like her and her brothers could become Grube with the power of their bond, the Maki siblings created Jasyuline with the power of their bond.

If Katsumi and Isami were here, would they fare better against Kenshin and his monster? Probably, but then again, would Russo and Blu have inspired Akimitsu the same way Grigio did. A part of why he created Jasyuline in the first place was so it could be a Kaiju to fight alongside Grigio. As far as she knew, Russo and Blu couldn’t summon Kaiju to fight with them. Even if they could, they’d never have any reason to, because they were such a strong pair.

So perhaps, even though Asahi, even though Grigio, wasn’t the strongest, she made up for it in ways her brothers couldn’t. It was entirely possible that what this Earth needed, whether to stop Kenshin or not, was someone who didn’t always solve problems entirely through violence. After all, KPaRS’ job alone involved the pacification of monsters. An Ultra who was more willing to stop Kaijus solely through violence might not work too well with them.

So maybe… Maybe despite what the voice in her head sometimes told her. Despite what anything might have seemed… Maybe she was just what this world needed, at least right now. She supposed only time would tell.


	19. Our Story Will Become Greater and Soar!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another visitor from another world appears. He, at least, seems to be willing to be far more helpful than Mr. Juggler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been waiting to writing this chapter.

Today started off with a bang, rather literally, as Asahi was awoken by a monster roaming around the city. So despite her tired groan, she got out of bed and transformed. Which brought her to know, as Grigio stood, practically having a stare down with the monster in the middle of the city. According to KPaRS, this monster was Twin Tail, and had naturally wandered into the city. So, all she had to do was get it out.

Twin Tail was… a bit of a disturbing monster, all things considered. It had two faces, one on bottom with an obvious eyes and mouth, and one on top. The face on top had bright blue eyes, and from the top of its head came to whips. Grigio had been told that the whips were actually the tails that it was named after. While she didn’t see it, she decided they were probably right.

As she prepared to fight the monster, hopefully wearing it down enough that it could be taken out of the city, she sees something to her side. She looks at it, prepared for it to be Kenshin or another monster. But that wasn’t it, not at all. To her side, a bit away, some kind of portal opened. That was strange, what could have caused it, and more importantly, what was going to come out of it.

She inches closer, her previous goal – not so much forgotten as simply ignored. Whatever was on the other side, she was ready to fight it if it came out. Twin Tail could wait, it wasn’t even causing all that much destruction, so it wasn’t high priority. Not when something worse could come out of this portal.

Nothing.

She inches closer again. Either something was going to come out, or she was going to stick her head in to see what was on the other side. At the moment, though, it seemed like the latter was going to be the more likely course of action.

Still nothing.

She continues moving closer, now she’s right in front of the portal. Rin and Jun catch her attention before she can look in it.

“Do you think it’s dangerous?” Rin called as the two flew by, also choosing to ignore Twin Tails in favor of eyeing the portal.

Grigio look at them when she responds, “I’m not –“

She couldn’t finish her response though, as something flew out of the portal, crashing into her. She fell to the ground, having only registered a red and silver blur hitting her. It took her a moment to regain herself, and she realized whatever had crashed into her was still on her, keeping her on the ground.

The first thing Grigio thinks it could be is a monster, maybe something pulled by Kenshin, so she begins to struggle to try to get out from under it. Then she actually looks at what crashed into her and she realizes that she was a bit off in her initial assumption. The thing that crashed into her was clearly an Ultra, and he seemed to have realized what had happened.

The red and silver Ultra quickly scrambles up, “I’m sorry!” Then he takes a look at her, “You’re… Orange?”

Grigio had learned from looking at the Crystals her brothers had that orange wasn’t really a color that most Ultras came in, so she could understand this other Ultra’s surprise. Getting up, she finally gets a good look at him.

The red and silver Ultra had red markings on his forehead, coming down from the top of his head and stopping just above his eyes. The front of his body was mostly silver, but had red lines running down it, his Color Timer shaped like a sideways diamond. On his sides and shoulders were two gold colored stripes, the ones on his sides making a sort of wide v, pointing downward. On his left wrist was a strange device, which she assumed he must use to transform, or maybe it was like Zero’s bracelet thing – whatever that did, exactly? Unlike Cosmos, he sounded young, more like Zero.

“I am,” She said, placing her hands on her hips, taking on a serious tone, “Who are you? And where did you come from?”

“Oh!” He startled, then became serious, “I’m Mebius, and I came from,” He turns around to see where the portal had been. Only the portal was gone now.

“You came through this portal, which seemed to have disappeared,” She points out, “That wasn’t your plan, though, was it?”

“I was fighting a monster that threw me back,” Mebius explained, “And then I crashed into you?”

Grigio sighed, “There’s nothing we can do about it now…” Then she remembered why she was even up right now, “Ah! Twin Tail!”

Twin Tail was still in the city, further away than it had been, but certainly still there. She turns to Jun and Rin, who were flying a little further away, “Try using the net on it,” She said. Then she turned to Mebius, “I’m Grigio, and as happy as it would be to get to know each other better, right now, there’s a Kaiju to get out of the city. Do you mind helping, since you’re here.”

Mebius responds with a nod, though honestly, Grigio wasn’t sure the help would be needed. They’d already found out that Chikako and Katsuhito’s net worked pretty well against Kaijus, even the ones that were under Kenshin’s influence. Really, she was more worried about why Mebius was here at all.

But for now, she’d have to focus on Twin Tail. She could talk to Mebius later. Jun and Rin shot the net at Twin Tail. Within moments, the net was electrified, shocking Twin Tail. And after that, it seemed calm, most likely because it was dazed. So, for good measure, she got Cosmos’ Crystal and walked over to it.

“Grigio Calming Pat!” With a pat on its side, Twin Tail began to calm. Soon it was completely calm, not so much as struggling against the net.

“Alright!” She cheered, then turned to Mebius, “We should probably talk, but maybe not in the middle of the city like this…?” 

“Huh? Oh, yeah!” And with that, both her and Mebius shrunk down, becoming their human selves. Mebius’ human form had messy brown hair and wore a denim jacket over a plain white t-shirt with jeans. He looked just a little out of place, not enough that you’d question, but enough that he might stand out slightly.

Despite the smile she wore, Asahi sighed, “So I might know who caused that portal you came flying out of, but I sure hope I’m wrong. Because he’s a bit of a pain.”

Mebius tilts his head, “You think you do?”

“Yeah, there’s this kinda weird and crazy guy named Kenshin who keeps summoning monsters and, occasionally, pulling people from other worlds.” Asahi explained, “I’m from a different Earth, and I bet this isn’t the Earth from your world.”

Mebius looks around the city, “Well it looks the same but…”

“Does your Earth have a group called the Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad?” Asahi offered, “They exist here, they were the ones who shot the net at Twin Tail.”

He frowns in response, “No… Last I heard the group they had was called ZAP…”

Hold on a second… Hadn’t she heard that name before? She was certain she had… Maybe read it or something? But where? It obviously wasn’t something from this Earth, she was certain of that. She didn’t think she’d heard it from Cosmos or Mr. Juggler, nor did she think she heard it from Mr. Gai when he was here. So who else could she have heard it from…?

“Like Rei and Hyuga?” She asked. If she recalled correctly, the patch on their jackets said ZAP. She even remembered saying something about it. “I think they worked for a group called ZAP…”

Mebius’ brow furrowed in thought for a moment, before realization flashed onto his face. “Oh yeah!! Rei… The one with the Gomora?”

Asahi nods, recalling how Rei had summoned a Gomora to help her and Regina fight Sadola. If Mebius knew him then that meant they were probably from the same world. Not that knowing that was really all that helpful. Hyuga and Rei were only able to return home through sheer dumb luck. Or maybe that too was Kenshin’s doing, there was no way to really know for sure.

“Yeah,” Asahi sighed, “This is definitely a different Earth than the one you know.” Really what bugged her was that Kenshin had to have been the one to bring Mebius here, but why? He hasn’t intentionally brought another Ultra here before. Cosmos came because Kenshin had brought Lidorias here and Mr. Gai – Orb – came because of Mr. Juggler. And Kenshin clearly didn’t bring Mr. Juggler here, either. While Kenshin probably brought Rei and Hyuga – though again, they couldn’t know for sure – neither of them were Ultras. They’d just met Ultras and Rei could summon Kaiju, but that wasn’t the same.

So did Kenshin mean to bring Mebius here, or was that too simply dumb luck and circumstance?

Mebius glanced around, as if he was taking in his surroundings. Perhaps he was looking for some kind of difference, something that could indicate this truly wasn’t his Earth. Or maybe, with the new found knowledge that this certainly wasn’t his Earth, he was simply trying to familiarize himself.

But Asahi thought it was something more than that. She wasn’t sure what it was, but there was a look on his face, one that he tried not to show, that seemed to portray a fondness. And some sadness, mixed with amazement. Asahi had never been to a planet that wasn’t Earth, so she wasn’t sure if the amazement was a side effect of being on a different planet or what…

She wondered what he was thinking. What thoughts ran through his mind as he took in Kurokita’s buildings and the billboards and signs all over. The coffee shop down the street from here and the park across the road… As much as she’d love to let him look around more though, she had a feeling she should probably talk with KPaRS, preferably before they started blowing up her phone asking about Mebius.

“Mebius?” She caught his attention.

“Huh?”

“Sorry to interrupt you,” She said, “But I think we should probably go talk to KPaRS. They’re probably going to want to know about you, and probably meet you.”

“Besides,” She continued with a smile, “Maybe they’ll be able to help us figure out how to get you back home.”

Mebius smiled, “Right,” He said, “Lead the way!”

As Asahi lead Mebius towards KPaRS base, he looked around at everything, taking it in. Occasionally, she would look over at him and see that strange look in his eyes again. She wondered what it was about, but she didn’t ask. It wasn’t important right now, nor was it really her business. When they entered the main room of KPaRS, it was clear that everyone had been waiting. Not much of a surprise, really, Asahi had kind of been expecting that.

What she hadn’t been expecting was what Jun asked as they entered. “Asahi, did you find another stray?”

“What?” Asahi blinked in response, tilting her head. Stray… She looked over at Mebius. Did Jun mean him? “Do you mean… Mebius?” She points at him.

Rin tilts their head and looks at Mebius, “Is he the one who crashed into you earlier?”

She chuckles a bit in response, “Somehow I don’t think that counts as the worst introduction to someone…”

Mebius takes a step forward and smiles, “I’m Mirai Hibino,”

Asahi grins as she adds with a cheer, “Ultraman Mebius!”

Matsuoka gives Mebius – Mirai – a pleasant smile, “I presume by your entrance that much like Asahi, you didn’t intend to appear in this world?”

Mirai looked a bit sheepish, “No, I didn’t.” He confirmed, “I was fighting a monster when I got thrown through that portal… and into Grigio.”

“I think the question we need to address is where that portal came from,” Katsuhito notes, frowning slightly as he looked to Hisoka.

“We’re pretty sure the portal matched the ones that appeared the day Grigio first appeared and when Hyuga and Rei both appeared and left.” Hisoka explained, “So it’s safe to say that whoever caused the previous three caused this last one.”

“So you know,” Chikako waves her hand dismissively, “Instead of several portal creating annoyances, we only need to find one. Probably.”

“I think it’s Kenshin,” Asahi crosses her arms, “I mean, we know he brought me here and why. But why bring Mirai here?”

“Maybe he knows?” Fuyuko supplied, giving Mirai an expectant look.

Mirai though, simply shrugged, “I don’t know…” He seemed concern regardless, “I’ve never even heard that name, so I can’t imagine why he brought me here…”

“If Kenshin was even the one to bring you here,” Rin states, “We’re not positive that he’s behind this.”

“But,” Asahi began, “If it isn’t Kenshin, then who? Who else has that kind of power?”

There was a silence for a moment as everyone thought. The ability to travel between worlds, while clearly not exactly rare, certainly wasn’t common. Who else could have that power and bring Mirai here? Was there something they didn’t want him interfering with and if so what? There were far too many questions that they just didn’t have the answers to.

Maybe it wasn’t Kenshin, but that just brought another question. And Kenshin seemed to be the one who was the most obvious with his actions, after all. All the Kaiju attacks, so many of them were connected to him somehow. Days like today with Twin Tail was rare, monsters didn’t normally wander into the city. 

No one had an answer to any of the question, though. So, Matsuoka finally broke the silence, “Regardless, until Mirai can find a way to return to his world, he is welcome to stay here.” He turns to the rest of KPaRS, “In the meantime, we’ll look into these portals. They’re starting to become rather common and we have no way of knowing what will come out until it’s already arrived.” He didn’t need to elaborate why that was a danger. Everyone already got it. It was only a matter of time before a dangerous monster walked out of one of those portals.

“Thank you,” Mirai said, “If I can help…”

Fuyuko laughed lightly, “You’re an Ultra, right?” Mirai nods in confirmation, “Then you better ask Asahi about that. Now go on, Asahi, show him around or something.” She pretty much shoves them out of the door, with Katsuhito and Chikako out not long after. The two seemed to be returning to their workshop.

Asahi looked at Mirai, “I guess I get to show you around,” She noted, “Not that there’s a lot of interesting places… Well let’s go!”

She shows him around what areas she thinks count of note. Like the cafeteria, which was empty at this time of day, but was still a pretty important place to know. After a while, they made it to the last stop on her mental list. The engineers’ workshop.

“And this,” She began, “Is where the engineers like Katsuhito and Chikako work.”

Mirai looks around, taking in the room. There were bits of half started projects here and there, spare parts stacked against the wall. Chikako was on the far end of the room, tinkering with something. Katsuhito was at a table near where the two of them were, also working on something.

“And I think that’s everything.”

Mirai stopped looking around, instead turning his attention to her, “That reminds me… Are you alright with me helping if there’s a Kaiju attack?”

“ _When_ there’s a Kaiju attack,” Asahi corrected, “And yeah, it’ll be nice to have some help that aren’t from my Kaijus.”

“Your Kaijus?” Mirai tilted his head, looking at her confused.

“Oh, right,” She’d forgotten that he hadn’t seen that and that wasn’t something most Ultras could do – at least to her knowledge. “With my Gyro and Kaiju Crystals, I can summon Kaijus.”

As if to prove her point, a Crystal flew out of her pocket, glowing until it took its proper form. Landing in her arms was Eleking, who lets out a cheery sound. The instant Mirai sees Eleking and his small form, a look of surprise crosses his face.

“Lim?” He asked, raising a finger as if to poke Eleking, before seemingly thinking better of it.

Asahi adjusts Eleking in her arms and tilts her head, “What’s a ‘Lim’?”

Mirai seemed to realize that Eleking was not what he had thought he was, whatever that may have been. He shakes his head, “Sorry, on my Earth, my teammates and I had a way of summoning Kaijus, I suppose. But Eleking always appeared in a small form about the base, he became a sort of mascot.” He explained, regarding Eleking almost sadly, “So we called him Lim – short for Limited Eleking.”

“Oh, sort of like what my Crystals do,” Asahi looked down at Eleking. He kept making a cheerful chirping noise whenever Mirai had said “Lim”. He seemed to really like the name. “Huh? Do you want to be called by that?”

Eleking gives a cheerful nod and Asahi looks up at Mirai, “Do you mind if we start calling him that?”

Mirai seemed surprised, “Oh, uh, no. If he likes it…”

Asahi nods, then looks at Eleking and said, “Okay then! Your name is Lim now!”

Eleking – or rather Lim – cheered and jumped up into the air. Lim was able to jump pretty high, despite his size. While he was in the air, though, Asahi hears the sound of footsteps running towards them. She steps out of the way, right as Chikako comes running by.

“He’s so cute!” She exclaimed, reaching her hands out to catch Lim as he came down.

“Wait,” Asahi began, “Chikako he has a tendency to-“

Lim lands in Chikako’s hands. Then immediately shocks her.

“Shock people…”

Katsuhito looks down at Chikako in concern, gently nudging her with his foot. “You okay there, Chi?” Then he squats down to examine her, “I think I need to go to the doctor. Or someone who knows what to do when you’re electrocuted.”

Asahi looks down at Chikako sheepishly, Lim sitting on her chest, oblivious to the trouble he caused. “Lim, I keep telling you. No shocking people.” Lim looked up at her with an expression that could probably best be described with the words, “Who? Me?”.

Mirai looked a bit amused by Lim’s antics and a bit fond. “Our Lim did the same thing to George.”

“Huh?”

He looks at Asahi with a smile on his face, “Our Lim, when he first started appearing, he wasn’t supposed to be so small. Leaking particles from the generator or something. When my friend George went to grab him, Lim electrocuted him.”

Asahi picks up Lim and looks him in the face, “I guess you’re really living up to your name, then.” Lim looked rather proud of himself. Asahi gives him a bop on the head and he disappeared. She grabbed his Crystal from the air and turned to Mirai.

“We should probably be going.” She said with a small smile, then looks down at Chikako, “Sorry about that, Chikako, but I tried to warn you.”

\---

As it turned out, Mirai was actually rather interested in their world. Or maybe he just really liked Earth, regardless of what universe it was in. It was probably the latter, since he asked Asahi quite a bit about this world, but when he realized she honestly didn’t know too much, he just started asking her about her own. So she ended up telling him about her family and their store, Saki and Aizentech and how her and her brothers each became Ultras.

In return, Mirai answer her questions about his world and his Earth. He talked about how when he was on Earth, he worked with Crew GUYS, the defense team of the time. His friends and teammates and all the things they’d overcome. Asahi could tell that even now, after time had passed and he hadn’t seen them, Mirai still cared greatly about his friends. It seemed like Crew GUYS wasn’t even a group on that Earth anymore, so it made her wonder, just how much time had passed? Were his friends even still alive?

She couldn’t imagine that. Having friends but knowing she’d outlive them. Idly, she wondered if Saki ever felt the way that Mirai seemed to. Actually, maybe that was how she felt about her brothers. Saki had been on Earth so long, and though she talked of meeting people, it must have been hard, at some point, to get to know them, because she would know that they’d most likely die before her. Maybe that was why Saki didn’t want to be friends with Asahi.

Except that Asahi wasn’t the one who died.

She tried to chase that thought from her head, instead looking up at Mirai, who had just finished telling her the story about how his friends found out he was Mebius. “You really care about your friends,” She smiled at him, “They’re like family to you, aren’t they?”

Mirai had a fond smile on his face, which only grew as he answered her question. “Yeah, they are." He closed his eyes, clearly remembering something, “They all taught me so much. I think we all taught each other.”

“Well, that’s what friends and family are for, right?” Asahi said, “Regardless of whether they’re actually related to you or not.”

Mirai nodded, “They were all my family, just like your brothers are to you.”

“Yeah,” Asahi cheered, “Especially since I’m not actually related to Katsunii and Isanii.”

“Wait, what?” Rin asked from their desk, looking up from their computer, “They’re not actually your brothers?”

“No, they’re my brothers it’s just…” Asahi sighed, “It’s uh, kinda complicated. But they’re all my family, that’s what’s important.”

The conversation didn’t have a chance to continue because Hisoka cut them off, “Captain," He called, "We’ve got a Kaiju.”

On the screen appeared a video of an area outside of the city. There was a Gomora stamping around, swinging its tail and knocking down trees. It lets out a ferocious roar, then from it’s horn it shot several fireballs, which started to catch the trees on fire.

Matsuoka briefly examined the footage as it continued to play, “It seems like this Gomora is agitated more than most.” He looks to Hisoka, “Do we have any idea if it’s one of Kenshin’s?”

Hisoka gives a nod, “We believe so, though we’re not positive.”

With a nod to Hisoka, Matsuoka turned to Asahi and Mirai, “Would you two go to try to start calming Gomora down?” He then gestured to Rin and Jun, “These two will catch up.”

Asahi gives him a nod with a smile, “Right! Let’s go Mirai!” Mirai smiles and nods as well, following her as she exited the room. Soon they transformed, Asahi with her Gyro and Crystals and Mirai by summoning the device she’d noticed on his wrist earlier and holding up and yelling his name.

Soon they had arrived at where the Gomora was rampaging. She glanced at Mebius, “Okay, so it’s just a Gomora, this shouldn’t be too bad.” Despite her saying so, she wasn’t entirely sure of it. Something about this Gomora was… off.

While it looked like a Gomora and all of the attacks seemed to fit, something about it’s movements were odd. They seemed just a bit too stiff, or something. Not to mention some of it’s movements seemed to have an odd pause between them. But Grigio wasn’t really sure why or what it meant, if anything. Maybe she was just looking too much into it.

Mebius gives her a nod, “How do you deal with monster here?”

“We’ll probably have to fight it a bit,” She began, “Then either KPaRS can use their net or I can tie it up myself. After that it can be taken to the Kaiju Conservation until it returns to normal.”

“Right,” He slips into a fighting stance, “That should be easy enough.”

Grigio summoned her bow while Mebius moved closer. She fires some arrows over Mebius’ shoulder at Gomora. Though she should have hit it – and she did – Gomora acted like it didn’t feel a thing. Why were her arrows suddenly ineffective against Gomora.

Mebius dodges the swing of Gomora’s tail and retaliates with a kick. That too, Gomora seemed to simply brush off. This was getting pretty weird, it shouldn’t just be able to ignore their attacks like that. With a huff Grigio tried to shoot at it again, yielding no different results. Mebius tried a few more attacks too, though he had no better luck. With one last attempt, she uses Cosmos’ Crystal and channels the energy into one of her arrows, shooting. Though that arrow too lands, it didn’t seem to have any effect on Gomora.

Mebius cartwheels out of the way of several fire balls and meets back up with her. “Our attacks aren’t doing anything,” He said, “What should we do?”

Grigio’s mind raced as she tried to come up with an answer. So far nothing they did seemed to work, so maybe they needed to try something stronger? She could try Grigio Shot, but chances are that wouldn’t work. Or maybe it would? But it might be too much, and even if it wasn’t, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to take that risk.

“I – I don’t know…” She stammers, gripping her bow tightly. Something was clearly wrong here, but she didn’t know what! It could be something as simple as Kenshin did something, but there was just no way of knowing. She looks at Mebius, “Nothing we do is working!”

Mebius looks over to Gomora, then back at her, “Alright, I think we might need to try something more aggressive,” He said, “Stronger attacks. Can you summon a Kaiju to help?”

Grigio nods in response, “I can summon two, but they’ll only be around for a minute.” She was thinking that Bemstar would be good in case Gomora used Super Oscillating Wave, and she’d probably summon Eleking alongside to help. “But I don’t really have any stronger attacks myself…” 

“Alright,” Mebius turned towards Gomora, a blade forming from the device on his left wrist, “I’ll worry about attacking, you worry about your Kaijus.”

He runs towards Gomora, dodging its tail once again and slashing at it. It seemed like that attack did a bit, Gomora at least seemed to recognize that it was hit. Grigio made quick work of summoning Bemstar and Lim, who soon appeared at her side. As Mebius continued to attack Gomora, Lim made his way toward the other monster, avoiding an attack. Lim swings his arm, punching Gomora in the arm, then shocks it.

Gomora staggers back with a roar then just… Freezes up, falling to the ground with a loud and resounding thud. Lim just looks at Gomora, as though he hadn’t expected it to react like… that. Even Mebius seemed surprised, and really, that made sense. It didn’t seem like any expected Lim to be able to shock Gomora enough to knock it out.

“I… I guess that works?” As far as Grigio could tell, Gomora was unconscious, so it was wasn’t like it could continue to cause trouble. While not the most desirable solution, it did stop Gomora.

It was also around then that Jun and Rin arrived, quickly noting the monster on the ground. “What did you do?!” Jun called out, sounding a bit surprised.

“Uh, Lim shocked it?” Grigio offered, shrugging, “I’m going to make sure it’s still alive, though.” She moves over, crouching down to touch Gomora. Now, she didn’t actually know how to tell if a Kaiju was dead, but they probably had heartbeats, right? So it shouldn’t be too hard.

Behind her, she can hear Mebius call out, “Wait, Grigio.” She shifts, turning enough so that she could turn her head to see him. Then she hears strange sounds to her side, from Gomora. She turns and sees Gomora moving, trying to get up.

Grigio jumps away, just in time to avoid Gomora’s fist, but she still could see its tail coming for her. In a small panic, she used Mr. Juggler’s Crystal to summon her sword, block the end of the tail with it. It made an odd sound, not something you’d expect to hear from a monster like Gomora. It sounded something like a clang, a sort of metal on metal sound.

She manages to move away, but she sees Gomora’s horn begin to glow, energy gathering there. Its preparing a Super Oscillating Wave and it was aimed and Jun and Rin. Grigio looks to Bemstar who is already in the process of moving in the way.

When Gomora fires its Super Oscillating Wave, Bemstar intercepts it, absorbing the attack and eating it with the mouth like thing on his stomach. Not long after, both Bemstar and Eleking disappear, their Crystals returning to Grigio.

That wasn’t good. “Ah! Now what do we do?” She asked Mebius, shakily holding her sword in Gomora’s general direction. “This is very, very unhappy!”

Mebius takes a moment to examine Gomora, before glancing back at Grigio, “Use your strongest attack on Gomora, I can handle the rest.”

“My strongest attack?” That would be her Grigio Shot. She wasn’t really worried about how much damage that would do to Gomora, since this one seemed to be nearly invincible or something, but still, that probably wouldn’t be all that helpful. Still, it seemed like Mebius had a plan so… She’d just have to trust him. “Alright…”

She aims at Gomora, “Grigio Shot!” The energy attack lands on Gomora, managing to make it stumble back. Gomora roared, seeming to be even more mad.

Grigio turns to Mebius, “Alright, I’m leaving this to you…” Mebius takes over, swinging his blade at Gomora, while Gomora tried to punch and swing at him. But it wasn’t long before their Color Timers began to flash, so she hoped that Mebius’ plan, whatever it was, worked.

Finally, Mebius backflips to put some space between him and Gomora and prepares his attack. He placed a hand on the device on his wrist, then pulls it away. He raises both his hands and then move them so they’re crossed and then a beam shot at the monster. “Mebium Shoot!”

The beam hit Gomora, Gomora had little hope of moving out of the way, let alone blocking it. As a result of the attack landing, Gomora began to explode, and soon there were just bits of it left in a pile on the ground. There was something disheartening about that.

“Well,” Rin said, “I guess that’s that. We ought to return to base.” It was clear from the tone of their voice that they too seemed to be a bit disheartened.


	20. This Planet Holds Everyone's Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mirai has some words of advice.

Mebius and Grigio were at least able to make it into the city before they had to return to being human. Asahi didn’t blame Mirai for the way the fight ended. It wasn’t really his fault, they were running low on time and they had to make sure Gomora didn’t keep rampaging. It would have eventually reached the city and caused destruction.

But that hadn’t been one of Kenshin’s Kaijus, so she couldn’t help but feel a bit bad about it having to die. It may not have been from _her_ attack, but she still felt like she could have done more.

She knew that she should probably head back to KPaRS’ base, but she really couldn’t find it in her. So instead, she flopped down on a nearby park bench, noting how the sky was turning orange as the sun set. That was always such a pretty sight, no matter where you were in the city. The light and shadows always made everything seem more… dramatic. How fitting, then.

But she sort of forgot Mirai was still with her. He just sort of… followed her to the bench, watching her with concern. She figured it was pretty obvious that something was bugging her, she wasn’t even trying to smile. He sat down on the bench beside her and looked over.

“Are you alright?” He asked, eyeing her with concern. “It seems like… Like something is bothering you.”

Asahi looks over at him, taking in the worry on his face. She wasn’t really sure how to answer him. While what was bothering her was relatively simple, it wasn’t as easy for her to explain. “I… I just…” She struggled to find the words she was looking for. There was some part of her that was certain she was making something out of nothing. After all, it wasn’t like this was the first time a monster was… destroyed, since she arrived in Kurokita. Except those were summoned by Kenshin, not ones that were seemingly being forced to rampage. And she’d seen her brothers fight monsters all the time and destroy them. Though those were mostly summoned by Aizen or Saki though, weren’t they?

“It’s nothing…”

Her attempt at dissuading him didn’t seem to do much good. If anything, it seemed to make him even more determined to find out what was bugging her. Normally, she’d appreciate it, but right now she felt a bit… Silly? Maybe just embarrassed about it. She looked away from him, at her lap, fiddling with the hem of her cardigan. She wished one of her Kaijus would show up right now, she could use the reassuring cuddles.

“It’s clearly not nothing,” Mirai noted, “You seem sad about something when you’re usually so happy. So something must be wrong.”

She couldn’t bring herself to respond.

“Is it about Gomora?” He asked, tilting his head, “You and your friends seemed a bit discouraged by that.”

Asahi was surprised at how easily he guessed that, but it wasn’t exactly like anyone was trying to hide how they felt. Still, it was sort of odd to have him so easily guess what was bugging her.

She sighed, sparing a glance at him, through the corner of her eye. “I guess,” She leaned her head back, taking a deep breath. “I guess it’s just… sad.”

“You don’t like how it had to be destroyed,” Mirai tilted his head as he said that.

“KPaRS’ job is usually to pacify Kaijus, I guess I just really want to help them with that,” She looked at him, “And I just… I don’t like the idea of them having to die.”

Mirai gave her a kind and understanding smile, like when Katsumi or Isami would comfort her. It made her feel a bit more at ease, at least, though it did little to really make her feel better. “Sometimes,” Mirai said, “You have to do things you don’t want to in order to protect people.”

She takes a moment to think about his words. She supposed that made sense, but it still didn’t make it any less saddening. Especially with the extent of Kenshin’s involvement with Gomora, if any, was still unknown. Maybe Gomora didn’t want to do anything wrong. Maybe they were forced to. Maybe…

“I know it’s hard,” He said, something in his face told her he was being genuine. Mirai looked away from her for a moment, towards the sky. “It will never really get easier… But you have to be willing to do it. Otherwise, things may only get worse.”

Asahi watched as his eyes seemed to instinctually search for something in the sky. She wondered if maybe he was looking for where his home would be. Whatever it was he was looking for, though he seemed to focus on one part of the sky, it clearly wasn’t there. Mirai was such a kind person, she found. He didn’t have a choice about being here, but he still tried to comfort her.

She thought more about what he said. Being willing to do things you don’t want to so things don’t get worse… It sounded so hard, she wasn’t sure if she could do it… But if it meant that she could protect her friends and get back to her family, then she supposed… Well she’d just have to do it, no matter how much she wished otherwise.

She stands up from the bench with a jump, “Alright!” She declared with a grin, “I may not like it, but that’s just how it is. No point in letting it upset me this much.”

Mirai looked at her and smiled again, “Yes, exactly.”

“I’ll protect my friends and get back to my family,” She said, “And my brothers will hear about all the people I helped and be proud of me!”

Mirai stands up now, seeming to be as excited as she was, “Exactly!”

She points to the sky, “So no matter what this Earth throws at me, no matter what tricks Kenshin may try or monsters he summons, I won’t give up! I’ll keep fighting until the end!”

“There you go!” He cheers, clapping his hands together, “Now you’ve got it!”

Asahi and Mirai’s cheering was cut off, though, by a beep from Asahi’s phone. She pulls it out of her pocket and checks it. She has a text, from Katsuhito. It was odd, most of KPaRS didn’t really text her, with the exception of Chikako who always sent her funny animal videos.

The text read, “Come to the workshop, there’s something you should see. Bring Mirai, too.”

Asahi blinks at the screen for a moment, before looking up at Mirai, “I guess we need to head to the workshop, Katsuhito says there’s something we should see.”

Mirai nods, “Right, let’s go, then.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive. They found that everyone else was already there, gathered around a large piece of metal in the middle of the room. The metal didn’t seem to have a discernable shape, at least not alone. It seemed more like it was apart of a larger whole. But where had it come from and why was it here?

“What’s with the giant chunk of metal?” Asahi asked as her and Mirai entered the room. Everyone turned to look at them, varying expressions on their faces.

“This,” Chikako says, hitting the metal with a wrench, resulting in a horrendous clanging sound that Asahi’s certain she’s heard before. “Was retrieved from where the remains of that Gomora you fought should have been.” There was a frown on her face.

“What?”

Katsuhito shrugged, “All of it, it seems, is metal. Which means that wasn’t really a Gomora you two fought but rather…”

“A robot,” Matsuoka finished, a concerned but thoughtful look on his face.

Mirai looked serious when he spoke, “I thought there was something odd about that Gomora.”

“Wait,” Asahi realized so many things in that moment. All the things that seemed to be off, “If it’s a robot, then where did it come from? Who was controlling it?”

“Mecha Gomoras,” Mirai began, “Can be both controlled manually and be given programmed actions."

Fuyuko crosses her arms, “That still means someone had to give it those actions.” No one was going to argue that, but it wasn’t like anyone had an answer. While there were possibilities about who was controlling Mecha Gomora, one way or another, there was no way of knowing for sure. It was probably Kenshin, but they couldn’t be sure until he came out and declared it. Not that that would take him too long.

There was silence as everyone took in the words. The knowledge that not only was that Gomora not actually a Gomora, but that it was a robot was still sinking in. This revealation did seem to make everyone feel a bit better. That was wasn’t a Gomora that was killed, but rather a robot being destroyed. It was a small difference, but it made a very different impact.

Jun sighed, rubbing her temple, clearly irritated, “So what do we do in the meantime?” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in, before opening them again, “If whoever is behind this even reveals themselves.”

“For now,” Matsuoka began, “There isn’t much we can do. We can prepare for if something similar happens, but there’s no way of knowing.” There’s a contemplative look on his face.

He turns to Chikako and Katsuhito, “I’d like you to work on a way to combat more robotic monsters,” Then he looked to Asahi, “You’ll simply have to work on strategies. It seemed your bow didn’t work all too well.”

“Yeah,” Asahi sighed, “It’ll be pretty hard, I’m not exactly good at hand to hand fighting, but my bows my only weapon. I guess I’ll have to come up with something with my Kaijus…”

Mirai turned to her, looking rather surprised. “Wait, your only weapon?”

“Yeah…?” Why did he seem so surprised?

He tilts his head, taking a moment to blink before responding, “Didn’t you have a sword?”

“Oh, yeah,” Asahi chuckled, “From Mr. Juggler’s Crystal… I forgot about that.” Truthfully, she forgot about it a lot.

But there was still a problem there, “Eh, but I’m no good with it.”

Mirai contemplates what she said for a moment, before saying, “Well then, I’ll help you.”

It was Asahi’s turn to tilt her head and blink, “What?”

“I’ll help you practice.” He repeated, “I have plenty of practice with using a sword, so I can help you.”

She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. While it was very nice of him to offer to help her, the last time someone tried to “help” her with that sword it was Mr. Juggler. And that only went so well. Although, she was pretty sure that Mirai would be a better teacher than Mr. Juggler, and at least now she already had an idea of how to use a sword.

“Well…” She really should learn how to use the damn thing. She might like it a bit more if it didn’t feel like she was constantly floundering around when trying to use it. Who else might come along to help her? “Okay.” She finally relented, knowing that it was probably for the best.

Besides, she was pretty sure Mirai wasn’t going to throw rocks at her, unlike _someone_.

\---

Mirai, as it turned out, was a far better teacher than Mr. Juggler. Maybe it was just because he was better with people, Asahi wasn’t sure. But she certainly was thankful. It felt like she actually learned things! Without the terrifying pressure of Mr. Juggler! (She prayed for whatever poor souls were next subjected to his efforts to be a “good guy”.)

By the time they had finished the next day, because there was no point in starting to train the day they fought Mecha Gomora, she felt that she already was better with the sword. She was tired, sure, but it wasn’t like when Mr. Juggler “trained” her. It helped that Mirai was far more kind and understanding than Mr. Juggler. Even if, occasionally, it sounded a bit like he was echoing the words of a preschool or kindergarten teacher.

“I think I already have a better hang of this than before,” She notes as they were eating lunch. Asahi didn’t normally eat in the cafeteria, but she forgot to bring food and it was easier than walking somewhere. Mirai didn’t seem to mind, even if the man in charge of serving the lunch took one look at him, shook his head, then handed Mirai a double helping of rice, muttering something about how skinny he was. If anything, Mirai found that the least strange thing. It made Asahi wonder what his experiences on his Earth were like.

Mirai, to his credit, was easily working his way through the large helpings of rice. He gave her a smile before responding, “That’s great! You were doing really well.”

“Thanks,” Asahi hums, “I think it helps you’re a better teacher than my previous… well… ‘teacher’.” Really, she hesitated to even call him that, but it would have to do.

Mirai laughed, “He must not have been all that good of a teacher.”

“He wasn’t, really.” Asahi laughed a little herself, “Honestly, I feel better about trying to use the sword, now. Maybe not as good as with my bow, but I’ll get there.”

He nods, “I’m sure you will.”

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her Kaiju Crystals, placing them on the table and looking at them. Now she had to plan with her Kaijus. “I guess Lim works pretty well against robots, if the fight with Mecha Gomora meant anything.”

“His shock probably overloaded the circuits for a bit,” Mirai nodded, then took a bite of rice.

“Then I just have to figure out who else would be useful…” Asahi hummed, looking over her Crystals. Obviously, if the robot had energy based attacked, Bemstar would be good. Maybe Jasyuline might be good? It had psychic powers, so it could deflect projectiles. When in doubt, she could always use Regina.

Someone yelps, then another yells out in annoyance, “What is that thing?”

Then something crashes onto the table, knocking over their food, sending the rest of Mirai’s rice to the floor. There’s some sort of cry from whatever landed on the table. Asahi looks at it, noting that it appeared to be a Kaiju, though small, like one of her Crystals. It had four horns, the tallest ending with a red color while the other two ended in a blue. It looked a degree of humanoid, though the area around it’s face appeared to have leaves and other foliage. It had a bit of a derpy face, though Asahi frankly found it a bit adorable. The monster had landed on its butt and skidded when it hit the table, so it was now attempting to stand up.

Once Mirai properly looked at the monster, his face lit up in excitement, “Miclas!” The monster – Miclas – turned around to look at Mirai, seeming to be excited. He hopped from foot to foot and cheered.

“Miclas?” Asahi though, did not recognize this Kaiju. Not unusual, but she was curious why Mirai seemed so excited to see it.

“He was one of Crew GUYS’ Marquette monsters,” Mirai explained, “Oh, but why is he so small?”

“He’s like one of my Crystal Kaijus,” She notes, examining Miclas closer. Miclas quickly spins around to face her, as excited as he’s been. He attempts to run up to her, though he trips over something on the table and falls. When he hits the table, he disappears in a flash of light, leaving only one thing behind. A Crystal. “Or maybe he is?”

Asahi had never seen this Crystal before. Where had it come from, she wondered? Still, she picked up the Crystal to look at it closer, it certainly had the image of Miclas on it, but that answered few questions.

“He was one of yours?” Mirai inquired, though something on his face told her that he could tell she was just as confused as him.

“I guess?” She knew she didn’t sound sure and that was simply because she wasn’t. Miclas and his origins were a mystery to her. But she supposed some more help was always better. “What can Miclas do?”

Mirai looks thoughtful, “Well, Miclas is very strong, able to lift at least three times his weight. And as you saw, he’s a strong jumper, though is landings aren’t too good. He can fire a ray from his mouth, though I’m not sure how strong it is…” Mirai taps his fingers on the table for a moment before continuing. “He’s weak to the cold and electricity though, so he ought to be careful around Eleking.”

Asahi nods before gathering up her Crystals, including Miclas, and returning them to her pocket. She looks at the time on her phone, “I’m suppose to show you around the city today, we should probably get going on that.” Mirai looked at the rice on the floor sadly before nodding.

They spent the next few hours with Asahi dragging him around the city, pointing out what landmarks she could think of. After a while, their blinded by a camera flash. Asahi turns toward the source, finding Tomomi standing there, grinning, camera in hand.

“Fuzzy Pickles!”

Mirai tilted his head confused, echoing the words, while Asahi laughed. “It’s ‘cheese’,” She said, “And you’re supposed to say it _before_ you take a picture.”

He laughs, holding the camera up as he responds, “But then you’d have known and it wouldn’t have been as natural!”

She sighs, placing a hand on her hip, “It’s not very happy to just take people’s pictures,”

“Fine, fine, I won’t do it again,” Then Tomomi turns to look at Mirai, “Who’s this? A new friend of yours?”

Mirai waves as the two of them introduce themselves. Asahi quickly explains the gist about how Mirai was an Ultra and how he arrived on their Earth. Tomomi just nodded throughout the explanation.

He turned to Mirai and gave him a smile, “I’m glad you’re helping Asahi,” He said, “She’s always trying so hard, it’s good that she isn’t always the only one, even if you’re not from here. Then again, neither is she.”

“Tomomi here helps me by telling me about the Kaijus I’m fighting,” Asahi explained, “He knows all sorts of things about them.”

With a shrug, he simply responds with, “It’s a hobby,”

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and there’s loud thudding sounds. Tomomi glanced in the direction it came from, quickly finding the source. He tilts his head for a moment, then says, “That looks like a Windom, usually a mechanical lifeform…” He pauses in thought, then adds, “Though given the robotic Gomora you fought yesterday, it could very well be more robotic than anything else.”

Mirai blinked, “How did you know about that?” They hadn’t told him before that the Gomora they fought wasn’t actually a Gomora.

Tomomi grinned and shrugged, “I have my ways,” Then he adds, “And by ways, I mean Kaoru mentioned it.”

Asahi shook her head, this wasn’t really important right now. She turned to Mirai, “We should go deal with Windom, before it causes too much trouble.”

Mirai nods and his device appears on his wrist, while Asahi took out her Gyro and Crystals.

“Color me with your power, Grigio!”

“Mebius!”

Soon they were facing against the giant robotic being that was Windom. Tall and almost like a bipedal dinosaur, though metallic. Mebius prepared to fight while Grigio summoned Lim, then decided it was time to see for herself what Miclas could do. After, she summoned her sword, ready to fight this monster with hopefully better results than Mecha Gomora.

Miclas set his sights on Windom and ran towards it, past Mebius. Mebius actually had to move out of the way, as Miclas tried to grab Windom’s arm. Windom simply moved out of the way, causing Miclas to run past it, though he was able to stop.

Grigio called out to Miclas, “Try your beam attack!” Miclas nodded – as much as he could – then energy began to gather in his mouth, resulting in a beam. Once again, though, Windom simply moved out of the way, proving to be far more agile than Mecha Gomora was.

Unfortunately, that meant that Miclas’ attack was going straight for Grigio. Without sparing a moment, Grigio creates and barrier and blocks the attack. Miclas looks a bit defeated, but Lim takes this as his que to give it his own try. He too runs by Mebius and swings his tail at Windom. This attack, at the very least, hit, though it didn’t seem to be too effective.

“Try shocking him!” Grigio suggests, though she then turned to Mebius. She sighed before saying, “We should probably come up with a plan.”

Mebius nods, “Windom doesn’t seem as sturdy and Mecha Gomora, though it is more agile. I think we should be able to do some damage with our attacks though.”

Grigio nods in response, turning towards Windom, Miclas, and Eleking. Eleking has managed to grab Windom’s arm, despite the latter’s attempt to shake him off. Eleking then let’s out a shock, which causes Windom to stumble backwards, though it didn’t seem to have as strong of an effect as Gomora. Then Eleking and Miclas disappeared.

Grigio and Mebius prepare themselves to face Windom, knowing that they only had about two minutes left. Windom moves towards the closer of the two of them, Mebius, and punches at him. Mebius catches its fist, pushing it to the side.

Mebius’ sword appears as he slashes at Windom who manages to narrowly dodge. Grigio moves closer, knowing that in order to actually use her sword, she had to be close enough to reach Windom. Mebius slashes at Windom again, this time Windom was unable to move out of the way and was hit. It seemed like the attack did some damage, though not as much as Grigio had been hoping it would.

Windom staggered back from Mebius hit, giving Grigio an opening to attack, stabbing at it with her sword. Now you would think that a robot would not be all that susceptible to blades. Mebius’ maybe, given it was made of energy, but certainly not Grigio’s, which was literally just a plain, regular, sword. And you’d be right, were it not for two things, which were one, Grigio’s sword was created thanks to a Crystal and her Gyro, and two, Grigio and Mebius were Ultras, which meant that not all logic seemed to apply when they were involved.

So, when Grigio stabbed at Windom, it did do some damage. Windom staggered once again, making an actual effort to give itself some distance. Once it had given itself enough distance, it shoots at them. Grigio blocks the shots with a barrier while Mebius cartwheels out of the way. His cartwheel had placed him close enough to land a kick on Windom, knocking him slightly off balance.

Grigio takes the opportunity to fire her Grigio Shot and Windom, further knocking it off balance, enough that it fell to the ground. She meets Mebius near where Windom struggles to get off the ground. Though their Color Timers begin to beep, they know that they’ve almost finished fighting Windom.

“Alright!” She cheered, “Let’s finish this fight!” Mebius prepares his attack in response and Grigio goes to follow. Before she can do so, a small light flies to her. She looks down at the Crystal in her hands then smiles.

Sword in one hand, she activates the Crystal she just gained. Fire swirls around the blade of the sword as she focuses on Windom. Mebius finishes preparing his attack.

“Mebius Slash”

He runs, slashing at Windom.

Grigio follows, slashing in the opposite direction. “Grigio Flaming Slash!”

It takes a moment, but soon Windom explodes, much like Mecha Gomora had.

\---

When they returned to human form, Asahi spins around to face Mirai, holding her newest Crystal in his face, “Mirai! Check it out!”

Mirai examines the Crystal, “Is that… Me?”

With a nod, she places the Crystal in her pocket, “The Mebius Crystal!”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, before he asked, “I thought you only had Kaiju Crystals?”

With a shrug, she responds, “I have mostly Kaiju Crystals. Other than those I have the Cosmos Crystal, Mr. Juggler’s – because I don’t know what he counts as – my own, if we count it, and now yours.” She taps her finger against her cheek before continuing, “My brothers have more Crystals from Ultras.”

“Well,” Mirai said, “I think you work well with your Kaijus. Their lucky to have you.”

Asahi beamed, “Yeah, they’re really great! I can’t wait to introduce my brothers to them.” She blinks for a moment, “Actually, maybe not the best idea.”

Mirai laughed at that. She was glad, he had no choice in coming here, but he still didn’t seem to out of place. Maybe it was because Earths all seemed so similar, but it was nice. To know that you weren’t too out of place somewhere that you didn’t belong. While Asahi wasn’t glad that Mirai had to be here, of no choice of his own, but she was glad that it was him. Because he was kind, but not only that. He made her feel less like she was so far from Ayaka.

Maybe it was because they both weren’t from this Earth, or maybe it was just because he was so friendly and they got along well. While she still was afraid that she may never get home – how could she not be? – it wasn’t as bad with Mirai here. It helped that he could distract her, unlike everyone at KPaRS, he didn’t have other things to be doing. Not to mention he barely knew her, but he was still worried about her after their fight with Mecha Gomora yesterday.

Regardless of why or how, Mirai being around, even if it was just for a short period of time, certainly made her feel better. Maybe he just had that effect on people.


	21. Don't Worry 'Cause We're With You And Ready For the Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out there's a bit of a reason that Mebius ended up here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the Mebius chapters, I swear!

It’s been about a week since Mirai was, quite literally, flung into this world. After their fight with Windom, not much had happened, there hadn’t even been a stray monster wandering into the city. Nor did anyone appear to take credit for either of the robot attacks.

Unfortunately, they really had no way of getting Mirai back home. He was stuck there until a portal back to his world opened or someone came along who could take him back. He was, effectively, in the same boat as Asahi. Except at least Asahi knew something for sure about how she ended up in Kurokita.

So Mirai and Asahi continued their training in the morning. Asahi wanted to get better at fighting, and Mirai was more than willing to help her. It was during one of these training sessions that Jun, Rin, and Fuyuko wandered in, watching. They used KPaRS training room – which the existence of befuddled Asahi, as KPaRS only required basic self-defense training – so it wasn’t like it was hard for anyone to walk in. It was just odd, because Jun, Rin, and Fuyuko knew they were in there, so they had to choose to come in on purpose. Maybe they were just curious, but it didn’t make it any less strange.

“So this is what you two do in here for several hours,” Fuyuko noted idly, “Well, at least this room is actually getting some proper usage.”

Mirai nods very seriously, “Training is important,” He said, “You must not only work with others to become stronger, but work on yourself.”

“’A chain is only as strong as its weakest link’,” Rin supplies, “In order for a group to become stronger, each individual must also grow.”

With a nod of affirmation, Mirai says, “Exactly,” Then he looks to the side slightly, “Truthfully, it’s nice to be able to train in this form again.”

Jun arches a brow at that, “Really? How come?”

Mirai looks to them again, “It reminds me of when I would train with my friend.” He looks very serious again as he continues, “When we would train, Ryu would always make us yell the Five Ultra Oaths.”

“The Five Ultra Oaths…?” It was Asahi’s turn to be confused.

Mirai nodded, then began to list, “I will not go to school on an empty stomach. I will go out and play when the weather is good. I will watch out for cars when watching the stree. I will not rely on others. I will play and run around barefoot.”

There’s a moment of silence after he finished, everyone taking some time to process what he said. Fuyuko squints, looking like she was about to say something but thought better of it. Rin raises their brows, seemingly surprised. Asahi tilts her head, slightly confused.

It’s Jun who voices their confusion, “Those sound like something you’d tell children.” It was a blunt observation, but it did cover what they were all thinking.

“Well that’s because they are…” Mirai explained, though he continued, “But that’s not what’s important about them.”

“Okay,” Rin says, tugging at the end of their scarf, “What’s so important about them, then?”

He pauses for a moment, then responds, “Ryu learned them from his former captain, who died with the rest of their team.” He explained, “When he taught them to us, it was him recognizing us as members of Crew GUYS – as his teammates. It was just a part of what he brought with him, and then it became a part of what made us all teammates.”

Fuyuko smiled, “Sounds like you had some great teammates there,”

“They were,” Mirai smiled, “I knew after I saw them risk their lives to save Konomi’s class’ rabbits, that they would do well in Crew GUYS.”

He shook his head then turned to them, “What about you guys?” He asked, “Aren’t you good teammates?”

Jun tilted her head, Rin shrugged. But Fuyuko laughed. She then looked at Mirai, “We’re as good of teammates as we can be, I suppose. But not everyone is as lucky as you.”

Rin turned to look at Fuyuko, “I think we’re better than you realize,” They looked to the side for a moment, sighing, “I mean, we all work together pretty well, we get along, and we all share similar goals.”

“Maybe,” She shrugged, “Maybe not. Who’s to say?”

Asahi laughed at the two. Fuyuko may not have necessarily thought so, but Asahi was of the opinion that there was no other group of people she’d rather be working with than those at KPaRS. She didn’t choose them, not in the way that Mirai seemed to have. But she’s heard what they’ve had to say and she’s seen what they’ve done.

\---

While their mornings were occupied with training, there wasn’t much they did in the afternoon. They’d get lunch – Mirai got to eat all his rice these following days – and then sometimes Asahi would drag him around the city, other times they hang around the base. There really wasn’t much to do. Like today.

Asahi and Mirai were playing a game of what Asahi liked to call “Guess the Kaiju”. You had to close your eyes and try to guess which Kaiju from Asahi’s Kaiju Crystals were currently trying to get pets. At the moment, it was Mirai’s turn and he was currently gently feeling Jasyuline, who was happy for the attention.

“Is it… Gomora?”

Asahi laughed and shook her head, “No, more stone like.”

“Sodom?”

“No!”

“I give up,” Mirai pouts, opening his eyes. He startles at Jasyuline, who has moved to put his three faces in Mirai’s face. Jasyuline laughs then disappears.

Before they can start Asahi’s turn, Katsuhito walks in, holding some papers in his hand. He seems vaguely irritated, “Okay, why are these missing person reports being sent down to us?”

The question seemed to be directed at Hisoka, more than anyone else, who simply sighs, “Because there was a strange pollen found at all the scenes.” He sounds somewhat tired, as though he knows what Katsuhito is going to say next.

“Okay, but we’re engineers,” Katsuhito said, “Not scientists. Why are these going to KPaRS anyway? Shouldn’t they go to the police?”

“You would think,” Is Hisoka’s dry response, “But the police are convinced that there’s a Kaiju involved. We don’t really have anyone to handle these cases, though, so they’re in limbo.”

Katsuhito rolled his eyes, “Why do they think there’s a monster involved?”

“The cases are all really similar, people who have been… down on their luck, so to speak, suddenly disappearing and the last place their seen having that strange pollen nearby.” Hisoka explained, “That and the fact they all happened within the last twenty-four hours. The police were quick to hand them to us, but not much we can do about it.”

“Some job the police are doing,” Katsuhito scoffed, then looked around, holding the papers up, “So what do I do with these?”

Hisoka shrugged, looking to Matsuoka, “Captain?”

Matsuoka seemed hesitant, “Ideally, we’d look into them,” He said, looking just the slight bit distressed, “But since we don’t have anyone, I suppose we’ll have to-“

Mirai shoots up from his seat, “Asahi and I could look into them,” He offered, “These sound a lot like something that happened on my Earth.”

Matsuoka seemed thoughtful, though still hesitant, “I suppose… But neither of you are actually members of KPaRS…” He looked over at Katsuhito, “Someone would have to go with you…”

Katsuhito sighed, “And I’m the one who should go with them.”

“Well since you offered,”

“I walked into that,” Katsuhito groaned, “Well it’s fine, I need a break from Chi anyway.”

“Right,” Mirai nodded, “Lead the way.”

\---

The first place they investigated was a street in a residential area, right in front of an apartment complex. The area had been half heartedly cordoned off by the police, but everyone seemed to be trying to steer clear of it regardless.

Katsuhito consults the report in his hand, “Right, so, Hideyoshi Takenaka, last seen leaving the apartment complex here,” He points to the apartment complex they’re in front of, “at about three a.m. Like a madman. Anyway, there’s a blind spot on the cameras here and he just. Disappeared, it seems.”

“But to where?” Asahi asked, “The only place that the cameras wouldn’t catch is that alley, and the wall back there is way too high for a human to make it over.”

Katsuhito shrugged, “Beats me, but he sure disappeared. Apparently, someone saw something and reported it. A Kokoro Sasaki, who we’ll have to talk to, at some point.”

Mirai looked around the area. He seemed to notice the strange pile of what appeared to be pollen. He made his way over, crouching to get a better look. Katsuhito and Asahi peer over his shoulder.

“Is that seriously pollen?” Asahi asked, to which Katsuhito only shrugged. Mirai frowned but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he looked to Katsuhito and with a serious expression said, “We should go talk to this witness.”

Katsuhito nods and consults the report once again. “Right, she lives in the complex here, let’s go.”

It only took them a couple minutes to reach the apartment they were looking for. Katsuhito knocked on the door, which was answered by a woman. Presumably Kokoro Sasaki. She seemed a bit distressed, but mostly irritated.

“Are you Kokoro Sasaki?” Katsuhito asked, to which he was met with a nod, “We’re with KPaRS and we’re here to ask you about the disappearance of Hideyoshi Takenaka. Apparently, you saw something?”

Sasaki sighed, “Yeah, I was waiting for a friend in the lobby when I look out the window and I see this guy talking with him. I didn’t think too much about it, but then next thing I know there’s like – a vine or something grabbing at him – I don’t know.” She ran her hand through her hair, “It was freaky. I went out to look for him, but all I could find was some weird stuff. Like pollen or something. Seriously, I’m not sure.”

If anything, what Sasaki saw made less sense then Takenaka just disappearing from thin air. Maybe a vine grabbed him or something? That only raised more questions and barely answered any they already had.

Katsuhito sighed, but Mirai looked thoughtful. Again, though, if he knew anything, he wasn’t saying anything. Katsuhito thanked Sasaki for her time them turned to face Asahi and Mirai.

“Alright,” He sighed, “So that made about as much sense as a two-year-old trying to write, so I guess we’ll have to check another report out.”

As it turned out, all the other reports were much of the same story. If there was even anyone to talk to. But there was always that pile of pollen. Looking into the missing people simply showed that they were always people who were in a bad place. Someone just died, they just lost their job, or they were simply struggling with life.

But Mirai, it seemed, had some idea of what was going on. As they finished investigating the sight of the last missing person, outside the city at the edge of the forest in a little campground, Mirai seemed a bit distracted. He was examining the pile of pollen, identical to the ones they had seen prior. No one had saw anything here, despite the fact that there was someone in the campsite just a few yards away. All they said they heard was the person talking to someone, which was about as helpful as what people had seen or heard in other cases.

So, as far as Asahi and Katsuhito were concerned, they had no idea what could have been happening. These cases were all connected, clearly, but by what, exactly, they didn’t know. The pollen was the most obvious thing, but even then, how could they explain it? A flower monster? They had far too many questions and far too few answers. There was just no explanation to be found.

Asahi, frankly, just wished that something would happen, that they’d find something that might be able to point them towards an answer. But everywhere they looked, it was all the same thing, all the same clues and pieces. It was frustrating, especially since she was certain there were people who must be worried about these missing people.

Katsuhito groaned, “Ugh, and this is why I like to leave the detective work to people who are, you know, actual detectives.” He glances around once again, then looks at the report in his hand. And then he groans, again, “Seriously, what are we even supposed to be able to figure out from this?”

With a shrug, Asahi climbed atop a large rock, as though it might help her see something they were missing. It didn’t, but she had to admit she felt cool on it. Finally, Mirai stood up and glanced around.

“I think I know what’s behind this,” He said.

Asahi leaned a bit in Mirai’s direction, now balancing in a crouch on the rock. Katsuhito looked up at him, an astounded look on his face. “Seriously?” He was surprised, to say the least.

Mirai nodded, a serious look on his face, “Like I thought, these cases really are similar to ones I saw with Crew GUYS.” He hummed in thought briefly, “If I recall, they were caused by a plant monster, one that had flowers that could disguise themselves as humans. The pollen that the flowers could expel was able to paralyze their victims, who they then brought to the parent plant…”

Katsuhito frowned, “Okay, yeah, there’s definitely some similarities there…” He taps his finger his handful of missing persons reports, “You think that they could be caused by the same plant?”

“Or a similar plant,”

“Wouldn’t a bit plant be kind of hard to hide, though?” Asahi slides off the rock, looking at Mirai.

He shook his head, “It could easily hide somewhere that doesn’t get a lot of people. A forest, say.”

She blinks, “A forest, like the one we’re right next to?”

Mirai’s eyes widened as he seemed to have came to the same conclusion as she did, “Yes,”

Then Katsuhito butts in, “Okay, that’s great,” He said, “But we can’t just. Go into that forest looking for some monster-sized plant that may or may not actually exist.”

He crossed his arms and continued, “Why don’t we go back to base and work from there? Captain probably has a good idea of how to deal with this.”

Though Mirai looked hesitant, he didn’t put up a fight. Asahi frowned, “But what if the plant kidnaps more people?”

“What if,” Katsuhito repeated, “We really have to think about this carefully. If that plant’s in there – which we don’t even know for sure – then it’s too dangerous to just waltz in. You two may be able to become giants and what-not, but I sure can’t.”

Asahi pouted, “I guess you’re right.” She just really didn’t like the idea of just leaving it, especially if more people could be captured by the flower. But Katsuhito had a point, they didn’t know if Mirai was right and they had no way of knowing, if Mirai was right, whether the monster was even in this forest. They’d just have to wait and see what happened.

“Great,” Katsuhito gave her a small, reassuring smile, “Now let’s get going.”

They barely make it out of the spot designated as the campsite when a person just. Walks in front of them. The person is dressed rather oddly, in a long trench coat and fedora, like a spy or detective in an old movie. But they also moved oddly, in sort of janky, stiff movements. Different then a robot, but still very… inhuman.

“Can we help you?” Katsuhito called out, warily eyeing the person.

The person took a step towards them. They couldn’t come any closer, though, as in small flashes of light, Regina and Jasyuline had appeared, placing themselves between the three of them and the person. Regina growled and fired her missiles at the person, causing them to stumble back. The attack revealed what the person was, as rather than a person, they were a flower like being. Its body appeared to be made of stalk, leaves, and vines, while the head looked like a stalk, with a flower blooming on top.

The flower raised its arms and vines extended from it, heading towards them. Jasyuline summoned his boomerang weapons and cut them, causing them to fall to the ground. With a cry of what Asahi could only assume was pain, the monster stumbled backwards. Then, it turned and ran, heading towards the forest.

“You two go after that thing!” Katsuhito called as he began running off, “I’ll head back to base and report!”

Mirai began to run after the flower and Asahi followed close behind, Regina and Jasyuline returning to their Crystal form and flying into her hand. They follow the flower into the forest a distance, before it seemingly disappeared into the trunk of a large tree.

Asahi quickly looked around, trying to figure out where the flower could have gone. “There’s no where it could have gone!” She sighed and leaned against the tree.

Mirai frowned, “It had to have gone somewhere…” He closed his eyes in thought, “If I remember right the larger plant that the flowers came from resembled a very, very large tree.”

“Like how large?”

“About the size of a Kaiju or so.”

“Woah,” She gasped, “That’s like, really big! How could someone just miss that?”

He shrugged, “Well…”

Asahi feels something at her ankle, then it sort of climbs higher, slithering up her leg. It felt odd, like a plant. “Huh?” She looked down, then jerked in shock. There was a vine wrapping itself around her leg, another one starting on her other. “Uh, Mirai…” She attempts to pull free, but to no luck.

Mirai looks at her, “What is it?”

“Vines!” She summons her sword and tries to cut at them, to no avail. Instead, a vine only comes to try to grab at her wrist.

He’s startled for a moment before he comes to try to pry the vines away. He has about as much luck as she had with her sword, which she’s now dropped. Mirai looks up, at the tree she had been leaning against.

“The tree,” He said, “The tree’s the Kaiju.”

Asahi groaned, “Great, but what am I supposed to do?”

“Try transforming,” Mirai suggested, “Then we can deal with it.”

That was a great plan, in theory. And it would probably work, for Mirai. He only needed his left wrist to transform. “I can’t. I need both hands!” Judging by the look on his face, Mirai clearly hadn’t thought of that.

Right on time, as she often was, Regina appeared again, breathing fire against the vines that held Asahi’s wrist. The with the vines burned away and her hand free, Asahi was able to transform now. She nods at Mirai and they both transform.

Now she could see just how big the tree was. It was widest at its base, where it seemed like many trunks came together. Its arms appeared to be made of vines and the top of its head was covered in foliage. It had sinister looking face with bits of wood that appeared like fangs.

“Is this the monster that’s been making people disappear?”

It seems like Mebius was going to respond, but he didn’t get a chance. He’s cut off by a laugh and pinkish feathers swirling around. Soon they took form, one that Grigio was surprised they hadn’t seen sooner.

“Hello there, Ultras.” Kenshin greets with a laugh, “How do you like Sorichra?”

“Of course you’re the one behind this,” Grigio sighed, then points at him, “Let all those people go!”

Kenshin seems to ignore her, instead turning his attention to Mebius, “Do you like seeing it again? I was trying to get it for a while now… But I ended up getting you instead.” Grigio had a feeling they were about to get something of a villainous monologue. “So I had to send some… Distractions. But I have Sorichra now, so it’s all fine, though I suppose I also have another Ultra annoyance to deal with.”

“But why do you want Sorichra?” Mebius questioned, “Why go to all this trouble?”

With a laugh and a spin, Kenshin just gives the impression of a smug smile and says, “The question of the hour, isn’t it?” He taps his temple, “But I’ll let you figure that out. After all, you’ve done a wonderful job playing detective so far.”

“But why kidnap all those people?” Grigio watches him carefully, wary that he might disappear if she doesn’t.

“They’re all in such horrible places,” He responds with mock concern, “Sorichra is simply giving them an escape. A perfect world without a worry to be found.”

If she could see his eyes, she was certain he’d have narrowed them, his next statement seeming to be directed at her. “Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“The world has its hardships so we can learn and grow from them,” Mebius said, “Putting them in Sorichra’s dream is putting them in a lie. It’s taking away their choice to become better or to turn their life around!”

“Ah,” Kenshin tuts, “But is that really what they want?”

When he doesn’t get an immediate response, he continues, “You don’t know that; I don’t know that. No one knows that!”

Before either of them can respond, Kenshin disappears, leaving Grigio and Mebius alone with Sorichra. Now, they had a monster to deal with, though their conversation with Kenshin still was ringing in Grigio’s mind. She chose to ignore it, for now. They had bigger things to worry about.

“I think fire will be our best bet,” Mebius called out, “Since Sorichra can’t move, it can’t dodge any of our attacks.”

“Right,” Grigio nods, summoning Gomora and Miclas. They both had fire-based attacks, so they should be helpful.

Mebius summoned his sword, cutting at one of Sorichra’s incoming vines. Gomora began to shoot fire balls at the tree, seeming to be doing a fair amount of damage, while Miclas prepared his heat ray. Grigio summoned her bow, using the Mebius Crystal to light the arrow on fire.

“Grigio Flaming Scatter!” When she fired the arrow, it broke into many, all of which were aflame. The arrows all landed on some part of Sorichra, causing it to cry in pain.

Miclas fired his ray, hitting Sorichra, unlike when they were fighting Windom. Sorichra attempts to grab and swat at all of them, to varying degrees of success. Miclas and Gomora are unable to move out of the way, getting tied up. Mebius backflips out of the way of two, then cartwheels out of the way of another. Grigio, in a similar manner to Mebius, cartwheels out of the way of a vine, like Mebius had taught her how.

Grigio fires another barrage of flaming arrows while Mebius slashes at Sorichra, blade ablaze. Soon, Gomora and Miclas disappear, their minute up, leaving only Grigio and Mebius to finish the fight.

Dodging out of the way of several more vines, the two meet up, ready to put an end to Sorichra and it’s vines. “Ready to end this?” Grigio grins, leveling her bow at Sorichra.

Mebius nods, “Ready,” He prepares his attack, raising a hand to his device. Energy gathered in the device, then he punches, sending out a wave of energy.

“Lightning Counter!”

“Grigio Flaming Arrow!”

As Mebius’ wave of energy hit Sorichra, Grigio’s arrow lands, bursting into a blast of flames. Sorichra explodes, bits of wood and vines getting everywhere.

“Yeah!” Grigio cheers, “Now that’s happy!”

\---

“Good job,” Matsuoka says when they return, giving each of them a pat on the head. Mirai looked briefly confused while Asahi just grinned, “You found out what was causing those disappearances, and thanks to you two those people can return to their families and lives.”

Mirai runs his hand over his hair, frowning slightly in confusion. “Thank you?”

“And now we know that Kenshin was behind Mirai’s appearance here, Mecha Gomora, Windom, and Sorichra.” Asahi notes, “Though we don’t really know why he wanted Sorichra in the first place.”

Matsuoka hummed, “Yes, that, it seems, remains to be seen,”

Jun scoffs, “Given what he’s pulled before, I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

Then Asahi frowns, “But Mirai’s still stuck here, who knows if Kenshin will actually send him back.”

Mirai shook his head, “It’s fine. I’ll find a way home eventually, until then, I’ll just help out here.”

“That’s not the point!” She grumbles, “You didn’t get any choice in coming here! You shouldn’t feel the need to just, to just help out since you’re here.”

Mirai blinked, “Isn’t that what you’ve done, though?”

“What?”

He tilts his head, “You didn’t choose to come here. But you’ve decided to help out here, despite that.” He frowned slightly, “Or did I misunderstand?”

Asahi looks away, “No, you’re right, but…” She sighed, “Still, you have things in your world you need to do, don’t you?”

“And you don’t?”

She shakes her head, “Not really, no. Katsunii and Isanii can handle things in Ayaka.” She tries not to seem sad, really she does. Because there’s no point in being sad, especially about all this. “They’ve always been able to.”

Fuyuko was the one who spoke up next, “So what?” She crossed her arms, serious, “You feel like you’re more useful here?”

Asahi couldn’t really look at them, because it hurt to admit it, but… “I mean, I can help so much more here then in Ayaka.” She shakes her head, “In Ayaka, I just get in the way. But here, I can actually help people.”

“But you’re an Ultra,” Mirai places his hands on her shoulders, “Wherever you go, you’ll find a way to help people, even if you don’t realize it.”

She looks at him, at that statement. She wants to believe it, but it almost sounded too good. The idea that she could be helpful anywhere. Because she wasn’t, really. When it came to her brothers, she was mostly only helpful so they could become Gruebe, and while that was great, it wasn’t really her helping.

But there’s something in her that says he’s right, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Saki. The one that always seemed to appear at the strangest of times. It tells her that she’s always helpful, she just doesn’t realize it. It tells her that she is more than she gives herself credit for.

But it’s hard to believe the voice.

Asahi blinks and fights the urge to look away from Mirai. Because he’s believed in her, that she could help people and live up to the name Ultrawoman. And he barely knows her. There’s something wonderous about that.

“Alright,” She finally managed to say, “Alright, I guess you’re right.”

Mirai smiles in response, “You may not see it yet,” He insisted, “But you will one day.”

She smiled a little at that, “One day,” She repeats, “I will.”

And though that day is not today, she would wait patiently for when it was.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” Came Hisoka’s voice, “But we’ve got a weird energy reading in the city.”

“What is it?” Matsuoka asked, though he was met with a shrug.

“We don’t know,” Hisoka said, “It’s a bit like the energy that comes from Grigio and other Ultras, but all we can see is a light.”

Asahi and Mirai look at each other, “We should check it out,” Mirai said as Asahi nods in response.

Soon Grigio and Mebius stand in front of what really could only be described as a light. But what was it, really?

Then the light changed, it became a portal while a smaller part of it flew away. They could see through this portal, unlike the other. Mebius seemed to recognize where it showed, a place of bright lights and pretty greens and blues, with crystal like buildings.

“The Land of Light,” He said, sounding surprised.

“You’re home?” Grigio catches the small light that flew away from the larger one. In her hand was a Crystal. She didn’t recognize the Ultra on it, or at least she assumed it was an Ultra. But she’d never really need a silver one like it before. Not in the ones that her brothers had met or in the ones she had.

Mebius nods, “I think the light – I think it’s given me a way home.”

“That’s great!”

Still, Mebius seemed hesitant, “Will you be alright?”

Grigio smiles, “Of course! I was fine before you showed up, I’ll be fine now.” She places a hand on her hip, “Besides, I have Tomomi and KPaRS. They’ll have my back.”

Mebius gives her a smile, “Alright then, I guess this is goodbye.”

“Or maybe,” Grigio suggests, “A ‘see you later’! Who knows, maybe we’ll run into each other again.”

Mebius laughs at her and waves, “Well, see you later!” He called as he began to step through the portal.

“See you!”

Once Mebius had gone through the portal, it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving Grigio standing there, alone. She still had the curious Crystal of the Silver Ultra in hand. Who was it? What did it do?

It didn’t seem like she’d be getting answers anytime soon.


	22. Once Again I Reach My Hand Into a World Repeating on End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is totally normal, isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sure hope I don’t forget to upload the next chapter until Sunday or later, like I usually do. I plan to put Chapter 23 tomorrow or Saturday, because it’s immediately after this one, but I’ll probably forget.

When Asahi awakens, it’s in such a familiar way, she doesn’t really notice how unfamiliar it all feels. She wakes up in her bedroom like she would any other day, light from the sun filtering in through the crack between her curtains. It’s warm under her blankets and she doesn’t really want to get out of bed, half tempted to roll over and go back to sleep. She glances at her clock and decides that no matter how much she wants to stay in bed, she should probably get up.

She brushes her hair and gets dressed, in a strange sort of quick way, and was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she walked downstairs. She gets there quickly, like in the way she brushed her hair and got dressed – or did she even get dressed? Well she wasn’t in her pajamas, so she must have – finding Katsumi helping their dad set up a display. Isami is in the back, clearly working on some project or another as he often was. She couldn’t tell what it was.

Their dad looks up and smiles at her, “Good morning, Asahi!”

Katsumi too looks up, “You slept later than you usually do. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” She smiled, “I guess I was just tired.”

He smiles in response, “Okay,” He said, returning with their dad to adjusting a shirt on the display, “Hey, could you get some groceries today? Isami has the list.”

“Sure!” She walks over to Isami who doesn’t even notice her, not right away.

After a moment, he looks up and sees her, seeming sheepish he hadn’t noticed when she walked up. He quickly realizes why she was there and hands her a paper, “That should be everything, thanks.”

Asahi starts to head out, waving as she walked out the door. She begins to walk and then she’s just. At the store. That’s odd, shouldn’t it have taken her longer? Well it seemed like she walked there, but still. She shook her head, she must have been imagining things. She just… spaced out, that’s it.

She gets the groceries – she’s not even sure what’s on the list, let alone what she bought, but that didn’t seem to matter – She entered the store and got them and now she was walking out. Like with the walk to the store, it felt odd, but she really must have just been overreacting.

She isn’t sure why, but she looks around, briefly, like she knows someone should be there or she’s trying to see someone. There’s… There’s people around, but at the same time it seems like their isn’t. Like everyone is just some vague shape or form that fills the spot where a person should be. But that too, doesn’t make sense. She places the back of her hand to her forehead, maybe Katsumi was right and she had a fever. It felt fine, but she still could have been sick.

“Hey, Asahi,” She looks to the voice who’s calling. It’s Tomomi, notepad in one hand and his pen clipped against the sleeve of his shirt. Asahi isn’t sure why, but she feels like he shouldn’t be here. It’s silly, she didn’t really know all that many people outside of Ayaka, so it stood to reason that he should be here. But something made it seem like he shouldn’t be.

“Asahi?” She hadn’t realized she had been spacing out, lost in thought.

“Sorry,” She responded, rubbing the back of her head, “Today’s felt a little… weird.”

He gave her a smile, “Those days happen, sometimes,” He said, “But hey, you should stop by KPaRS soon, Kaoru says that Fuyuko’s been dying to share her latest… theory, and she wants you to be there too.”

KPaRS…? Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad, right…? But why did they need that…? Were there monsters in Ayaka? She had thought so, but for some reason now she wasn’t so sure. But if it wasn’t that, then what was it?

“KPaRS… They’re the Kaiju Pacification and Reaction Squad, aren’t they?” She had to ask, she had to know. Because she felt oddly confused, yet not, at the same time.

Tomomi frowned, looking confused at her question, “No… They’re the Kaiju Presence and Research Service. They look into monster appearances, remember?” He places the back of his hand against her forehead, “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? Maybe you should lie down and take a nap.”

While Asahi appreciated his concern, there was something else there that seemed wrong. How could she have forgotten what KPaRS did? Maybe he was right. “Yeah, I think I might,” She agreed, glancing down. She blinked and then she remembered the bags of groceries in her hands. Had those always been there? She could have sworn… She lifts them, “But I got to get these groceries home first!”

“I’ll let you go, then.” Tomomi smiled, pulling his pen from his sleeve, “I’ve got work to do myself.”

They wave goodbye and Asahi begins to walk back home, groceries in hand. It should have taken her longer, but in what seemed like a blink, she was back, as odd as it seemed. She took a moment to blink and shrug, deciding that she really should take a nap. She puts the groceries away, noting how they all seemed to find their way into the cabinet, despite the fact she thought she only put a few away.

She looked at the shelves that lined the wall. It felt like something was missing. Not from the shelves, no, everything seemed to be there. Maybe it was more like there was something there that shouldn’t have been? She examines the shelves, searching, until she comes to a photo, framed. She didn’t think it had been framed before, but that really wasn’t the oddest part. It was the day that their mom had disappeared, a picture of their mom, Katsumi, Isami, and her… But had their mom disappeared? What exactly had happened to her that day? Asahi was struggling to remember. And why did that photo seem wrong? What was wrong with that photo?

Asahi took a step back, something else was missing, wasn’t it? But like so many other things, she couldn’t place what or why. It was infuriating. Not to mention how the past couple hours – had it even been that long? It didn’t feel like it, but the clock said so – had all seemed to blur and jump. None of that made sense.

“Asahi, are you sure you’re alright?” Their dad called, now standing in the doorway of the room. When had he gotten there? She hadn’t noticed, but then again, maybe she was just lost in thought.

“Yeah,” She managed, though weak, “I just think I’m... I’m going to take a nap.”

He frowned, though didn’t make any attempt to stop her, “Alright,” He then added, “Don’t forget you’re suppose to go out with Mitsurugi later today.”

“Saki?” She asked, despite knowing well who Mitsurugi was. But there was something wrong there too, like so many things felt like today. For some reason, it felt like she shouldn’t be able to see Saki.

“Yeah,” And her dad smiled this time, “You were so excited about it yesterday. So why don’t you rest so you aren’t tired.”

She took a breath before responding, “Yeah, okay.”

\---

Grigio is fighting a monster, then the monster grabs her and there’s a puff of smoke or fog, clearly a distraction. When it clears, there’s nothing there. No monster, no Grigio. The video rewinds, showing the scene again. Then it rewinds again. And again. Again.

Matsuoka frowned as he rewound the video for what must have been the thousandth time. What had happened there? Where had Grigio gone? All they had to answer those questions were this footage and Jun and Rin’s reports. Neither of them seemed to be providing answers, though.

It was clear everyone was worried. Tomomi had even stopped by, to try to help them determine the monster that Grigio was fighting. But they hadn’t a clue. They’d never seen it before, which made it all the more hard to figure out what had happened. Grigio was certainly strong in her own right, so alongside her Kaijus, this monster shouldn’t have been a problem. And yet, there was no sign of either.

Fuyuko had searched where the fight had taken place, hoping that perhaps Grigio had simply been unable to stay as an Ultra and returned to human form. But if Asahi was there, then Fuyuko’s thorough search turned up no sign of her. She searched everywhere that she could, but not so much as a stray hair.

Chikako and Katsuhito had helped, Chikako much quieter than she usually was. Katsuhito just looked oddly resigned, with his hands in his pocket. Jun had clearly wracked her brain when giving her report, trying to find any detail that might help them find Asahi. Rin had done much the same, though they desperately tried to hide their worry.

It was hard for Matsuoka, he had to do everything he could to find her, but he couldn’t let everyone else see his worry. He was their captain and they expected him to be collected, even when things were bad. So he was, but it was hard to hide his own worry. He could tell Fuyuko could see it when she reported back. He could see how Rin too saw it, the way they eyed him with some degree of concern. And Tomomi, well, they’d known each other too long for Matsuoka to manage to hide it from him. It was only inevitable he might say something.

Tomomi walked in with two trays in hand, having clearly made a stop at the cafeteria before arriving here. He places one on Matsuoka’s desk. “It’s like two and I’ve been told you haven’t had lunch.” He said, then placed the other down, pulling up a stray chair. “And for goodness sake, stop rewinding the video, you’re not going to find anything. Trust me.”

Matsuoka paused the video and began to nibble at the food in front of him. The look he was getting from Tomomi was more than enough to encourage him to eat, at least some. Besides, he was feeling a bit hungry. “How do you know that?”

Tomomi took a moment to glance at the frozen video, before returning to Matsuoka, “I’ve done the same for articles I’ve written. Rewinding and re-watching just one part of a video, hoping to find something new that I missed.” He pokes at his own food, clearly not holding much of an appetite himself. “It never works, though. I know that now. Though I admit it’s hard to accept at first.”

“And if there’s something we’re missing there?”

With a sigh, Tomomi responded, “Insanity is repeating the same thing, over and over, expecting something to turn out different,” He takes the remote and turns off the screen, “You won’t find a solution from that video. If it was there, you’d have found it already.”

Matsuoka regards Tomomi, if only for a moment. It was odd, to think of where they were now. If someone had told them when they were in school, or even just a few months ago, that they’d be sitting like this, trying to find a missing girl who fought monsters, they’d both have laughed. But no, here they were, doing just that. And Tomomi showed, as he often did, just how useful his perspective could be.

“Where do you think we might find it, then?” He asked, deciding to make an effort to actually eat some, as apposed to simply poking and pecking.

Tomomi took a moment to adjust his glasses, then admitted, “I don’t know.” He finally just pulled off the glasses, setting them on the table, and rubbed at his eyes. Matsuoka eyed the glasses, remembering how they’d always joked that there was no way Tomomi would need them first. Yet here they were. “I want to find her as much as you do. But I just don’t know where.”

With a groan of frustration, Tomomi puts his glasses back on, a look of annoyance on his face, “I don’t even know what that Kaiju she was fighting was!” Soon his shoulders sag, “What good am I if I can’t even do that?”

There was something there, something that Matsuoka was certain he was missing. Tomomi had never been one to lack confidence, especially when it came to Kaijus, but perhaps that wasn’t the issue. Asahi had said that Tomomi would tell her about the Kaijus she was fighting. Maybe that was why Tomomi seemed so upset. Because he couldn’t have done anything to help.

Matsuoka picked up the trays and moved them aside, “I think we can all agree there was little we could have done here,” He said. Tomomi looked like he wanted to argue, but simply didn’t have the energy for it. “For now, let’s worry about Asahi.”

Tomomi let out a bitter laugh, “The kicker is, I think we know who’s behind this.” He runs a hand through his bangs with a frown, “I’m surprised he hasn’t announced to the world how he’s made Grigio disappear.”

Something came into Matsuoka’s mind, then. He remembered last time they saw Kenshin. “Perhaps it has something to do with Sorichra?”

“Sorichra?”

“A Kaiju that Kenshin brought from Mebius’ world,” Matsuoka explained, “I don’t recall exactly what it did but… but it kidnapped people…”

He stands, spinning on his heel to face Hisoka, who was tapping and clicking away on his computer, too focused to notice the shift in attention. “Hisoka, bring up our file on Sorichra.”

Hisoka looked up, startled for a moment before nodding and furiously typing. Soon, on the screen in front of them, was the file that had been compiled about Sorichra. Physical attributes weren’t important, what they were looking for was more about what the plant did to the victims it kidnapped.

“Wait,” Tomomi blurted, then pointed at the screen, “There! It says it put people into a dream that’s a ‘a perfect world without a worry to be found’.”

“So?” Hisoka inquired, “What does that have to do with Grigio’s disappearance?”

Tomomi had a sad smile on his face, as though he regretted that he was probably right, “Think about it. If he put Grigio – Asahi – in a perfect world, she’d have no want to leave. Then Grigio wouldn’t be a problem for him anymore.” He turned to Matsuoka, “It’s likely that Asahi’s simply been hid somewhere by Kenshin.”

Matsuoka closed his eyes and hummed in thought. That all would certainly make about as much sense as anything really needed to, when Kenshin was involved. But still, there was one question left, “What can we do about that?”

It was more to himself than anyone else, but that didn’t stop Tomomi from responding, “There’s only so many places she could be. Not that there’s a guarantee we can wake her up. Sorichra’s victims could only be awakened when it was defeated.” He taps his finger on the side of his chin, “We don’t even know how exactly he might have put her to sleep.”

This was the most of a lead they’d had, it couldn’t be wasted. Matsuoka knew that they had to look for Asahi and they had to research the monster they saw earlier and Sorichra. They had no way of knowing how long they had before Kenshin made another move.

\---

Asahi woke up with half an hour before Saki was supposed to show up. She didn’t know how she knew that, nor did it really felt like she slept at all. But she figured she should get ready. After all, she was seeing Saki and that was always wonderful. She loved being around Saki, even if they were just hanging out. Sure, her brothers didn’t care for Saki too much – why, she couldn’t remember. There was a reason, she knew there was, but nothing really made sense – and neither did Saki – there was a reason there too – but they put up with each other for her sake.

The thought of seeing Saki made her nervous, but also excited. Anxious? Like the good kind of nervous. So maybe good anxious? Was that a thing? It didn’t matter. She looked at her clothes, her normal cardigan, blouse, and skirt. She should wear something different. She always wore these clothes, but she was seeing Saki, so she should wear something different.

She changes into something different, then checks the time. How had time passed so quickly? Saki would be here any minute. She runs down to the store, ready to wait for Saki to walk through the doors. Katsumi is at the register, sketching some designs on a notepad, looking bored.

“Well you’re excited,” He said looking up at her, “But Mitsurugi’s involved, so I guess it isn’t that surprising.”

“I like Saki,” Asahi responds, “She’s wonderful and I like spending time with her. Is that wrong?”

Katsumi laughs, “No, no, I’m glad you have someone to spend so much time with. Even if it’s Mitsurugi.” He eyes her for a moment, “You really care about her, huh?”

“Of course!”

The bell on the door to the shop jingles, telling that someone has opened the door. Asahi spins around, facing Saki. She’s overcome with… Something, an emotion that makes her nearly want to burst into tears. She runs and Saki and hugs her, instead, hoping that it might stop her from bawling.

Saki’s clearly startled, but returns the hug, though not missing Asahi’s near tears. “Asahi,” She says, “Is something wrong?”

“What? No,” Asahi sniffles, letting go of Saki and grabbing a tissue from a nearby box.

Saki narrows her eyes at Katsumi, “Did your brother say something to upset you?”

“No! No!” Asahi puts herself between Saki and Katsumi just in case, “I just… I don’t know, it felt like I hadn’t seen you in a long time.”

Saki clearly thought that was odd, “But we saw each other a few days ago…” She shakes her head and examines Asahi, “Regardless, you look nice.”

Asahi looks down at her clothes, her normal cardigan, blouse, and skirt – and wait, hadn’t she changed clothes? She could have sworn…

Saki grabs her hand, “We should be going now.” She leads her out the door and next thing Asahi knows, they’re in the park. There’s a blanket set out with a basket of food. Asahi blinks. How did they get here so fast? The sun was beginning to set. Had it been that late in the day when they left?

Saki guides her to sit down, then follows in suit. “I thought you might enjoy this,” She said, then hands Asahi some food from the basket. It’s what appears to be a sandwich, but Asahi struggles to focus on it properly to figure out what it was. “The sunset here is pretty, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Asahi agreed, taking a bite of flavorless sandwich – and then it was all gone. Strange. “This is nice.”

“Yes…” Saki glances over, almost seeming to be hesitant. It was odd, it felt like so long since she’d seen Saki, but had it? Yet something about Saki seemed… Off. Maybe it was just because she hadn’t quoted someone yet? Maybe that was it.

It seemed like they’d eaten all the food now – strange given Asahi could barely remember eating any of it. She could barely recall eating all day, actually. Had she? The sun had gone down, now, the moon rising into the sky, stars glittering in the sky. For some reason, when she looked at the stars, she thought of Saki. She wasn’t sure why.

Asahi shivered, with the sun gone, it was just a bit too cold for her cardigan. She wished she’d brought another coat. Saki seemed to have noticed, ushering her to get up, off the blanket. Saki grabs it, then wraps it around the two of them as they sat back down. They were very close now, touching side by side.

It was… Nice. Yes, nice was a good way to put it. Asahi leans into Saki, who simply wraps an arm around her and adjusts the blanket again. Asahi closes her eyes choosing to simply be in the moment. Because she’d dreamed of this, once upon a time. Of sitting with Saki and being this close.

But for some reason, she’d thought that dream unattainable. That was silly, though. Because Saki never went away or anything. She certainly never died.

Where had that come from? Where had the idea that Saki – wonderful, lovely, amazing – Saki, had ever died? There was no reason for that. Saki had no reason to die.

Why did she look at the stars and think of Saki?

“Are you from the stars, Saki?”

Saki looks at her, confused, “Why would you ask that?”

Asahi looks at her, “When I look at the stars, I think of you. I don’t know why, but I do.”

Saki regards her for a moment, before giving her a soft smile, “That’s… That’s a sweet thing to say,” She said, “It sounds like something you’d say.”

_Every life’s filled with passing moments, like the seasons change they come and go…_

She brings a hand up to Asahi’s cheek, gently resting it in her palm.

_But this is infinite, nothing, even death, can separate our souls…_

Asahi finds herself staring right into Saki’s eyes. There’s something there, but it seems out of place. Or rather, like it wasn’t right.

_‘Cause you’re my final goal…_

Saki was awfully close now. It felt like something Asahi would only dream of. She was certain she’d dreamed of this exact scenario at some point.

But something was wrong.

_Some people fall in love for life, other never get it right, love’s fickle when it calls…_

She was never sure she’d ever feel for anyone else what she felt for Saki. But somehow, she knew that this was wrong.

_One thing that I know for sure, longer than our lives endure…_

It looked like Saki. For the most part, it acted like Saki. But it couldn’t have been Saki – because Saki was…

Saki was…

Saki was right in front of her, so close she could… So close she could…

So close she could just lean forward just a little and…

And kiss her.

_You’re my Forever Fall…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also this wasn't supposed to go so much at the end, but then Forever Fall came on and I just went, "Guess this is happening now".


	23. I'll Gather These Fallen Flowers, the Hope Discarded and Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi perseveres, willing to shatter the beautiful illusion. Because it was nothing more than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remembered!

Saki was inches away now, but something was – something was wrong. Asahi didn’t know what – but she knew this was wrong.

_This wasn’t Saki!_

She pushes Saki away – though it felt wrong to call the impersonator that. “No!” She cried out, because it was _wrong-wrong-wrong_!

Not-Saki seemed surprised, eyes wide, watching as Asahi pulled herself out from the blanket and stood. “Asahi – What’s wrong?”

Asahi closes her eyes and shakes her head, fiercely, “You’re not Saki!”

Not-Saki stands, the blanket still draped around her shoulders. She seems concerned and it hurt Asahi to see because she knows this isn’t Saki, but it has Saki’s face and to see it concerned for her hurts her. “Of course I’m Saki,” Not-Saki responds, “Who else would I be?”

“I don’t know!” Asahi tried desperately to hold them back, but there’s tears in her eyes now. She’s crying because this all hurts so much. “But this isn’t right! Tomomi and KPaRS shouldn’t be here! I shouldn’t be in that picture! Saki is dead!”

Not-Saki attempts to argue, but Asahi doesn’t let her. “No! This all isn’t real! This all has to be a dream!” Not-Saki freezes. Or rather, it isn’t just her, the breeze stops, the noise from the city is gone, silenced like someone muted it. The world around her seem frozen, like a movie that’s been paused. Except for her.

There’s a chilling laugh, one that she dreaded to hear. Of all the people it could have been, it had to have been him. He had to be behind all of this, didn’t he? She turns around, finding herself facing Kenshin, who leaned against a tree, seemingly smug. He was human sized, but she didn’t really think it mattered, this all had to be a dream, after all.

“I was wondering if you’d figure it out,” He said and Asahi had never wanted to punch anyone more, “But given how nice this dream was, I thought you might let it happen. You seemed to enjoy it here, after all.”

Asahi steeled herself, knowing that this was only going to get worse, before it got better. “It doesn’t matter. This isn’t real. Take me back.”

Kenshin looked up at her, “Do you really want that? It’s so nice here, after all.” He pushes himself off the tree and spreads his arms out, seemingly gesturing to everything. “Wouldn’t you like to stay in the beautiful world? Where you have your family, your friends, and Saki?” He points at Not-Saki when he said the last one.

Asahi’s frown deepened and she stomped her foot, “No! It’s all wrong, it’s all a lie! I won’t live a lie again!” She isn’t sure what possessed her to do so, but she walks toward Kenshin, “Get rid of this. I hate it here and I will go back, even if I have to fight you.”

He seemed surprised at her assertion, but not as much as she might have hoped. No, he simply took a step back, away from her, and laughed. “You won’t be fighting me… But if you truly wish to go back…” He gestures his arm up and to the side. Where he seemed to be pointing, a monster just suddenly appeared. It was strange looking, with all sorts of part to it, hard to describe. On the top of it’s head, it looked like there were small tubes going everywhere and it had a sinister face. Instead of hands, it had animal faces and all around it, it seemed like it was wrapped with something or other. “Defeat Bakugon!”

Kenshin disappeared, in the way that he always did, leaving Asahi with the monster, Bakugon. But how would she do that? She didn’t seem to have her Gyro…

Not-Saki appeared beside her, despite the fact the world seemed frozen. She didn’t have the blanket anymore, but she did seem to have something in her hand. She holds out her palm and there is the Grigio Crystal. But how…?

“Take it,” She say, “Break free.”

Asahi takes it and Saki disappears in a golden light with a smile. She looks behind her, seeing that Not-Saki was still there, with the blanket. The Saki who appeared… It wasn’t an illusion. That had to be the real Saki, somehow.

She looks at the Crystal in her hand. Sure, she has it, but that isn’t enough, is it? She needs her Gyro, otherwise the Crystal is useless. But Saki wouldn’t have just given her a part of what she needed, would she? So there had to be something she was missing here.

Bakugon blows an orangish colored ray that melted through a building. Then it stomped around, swinging its arm at a building. Asahi blinked, trying to make sure she saw correctly. She was certain that its arm went straight through the building, but that wouldn’t make sense…

_But given how nice this dream is…_

_This dream…_

It was a dream. Even though there was a monster here, it was all still a dream. She didn’t need her Gyro here, because none of it was real. Not this version of Ayaka that the monster was rampaging in, not the monster. So, Saki had given her everything she needed.

After all, the picture looking back at her was Grigio. And Asahi could become Grigio. That was all that mattered.

She clasps her hand around the Crystal, closing her eyes and focusing. It felt like there was something gathering around her. It gathered and grew, blossoming from her, taking form. Soon it settled around her, fitting perfectly, like it had always belonged there.

\---

Despite their best efforts, no one had really made much progress on finding Asahi. They might have had a better idea of what Kenshin might have been up to, but there wasn’t much they could do. Fuyuko gathered everyone she could and they looked, and looked, but they knew so little about Kenshin, it wasn’t exactly like they could point at a spot on a map and say he might be there.

Tomomi stayed with Matsuoka and Hisoka, practically waiting around. Hisoka was in contact with researchers at the Kaiju Conservation, seeing if they’d been able to figure anything new out about Sorichra from what remained of the plant. They were still waiting on a response, though Tomomi imagined they probably weren’t having much luck.

So that left Matsuoka to work on his paperwork, as he’d neglected it for most of the day. Unfortunately, paperwork waited for no one and still had to be done, barring extreme circumstances. This, was not one of those circumstances. So he’d been working on that for an hour or so now.

Tomomi now sat in a chair by the window, watching as the dull city began to be colored by the sunset. Oranges and pinks washed over the boring colors that normally controlled Kurokita. It reminded him of how Grigio looked when she fought monsters, the light from the sun making her seem far brighter than she was. Or maybe the light was always there and only ever seemed to appear when she was in the sun.

He wondered if he was going to get any sleep tonight, or if he’d be too busy worrying. Asahi could take care of herself, but he still knew that she was only human. So he could never help his worrying. Really, he was certain that he wasn’t the only one. It wasn’t like KPaRS did much to hide it.

With a glance at his phone to check the time, he decides it would probably be best to head home, as much as he didn’t want to. He stands up and stretches, taking one last look out the window. Then he has to look again. There, between a building or two, was something large. It was clearly a Kaiju, though he didn’t recognize it. But it seemed like it had just suddenly appeared.

“Captain,” Hisoka called out urgently, “A monster just appeared.”

Matsuoka quickly looks at the screen as Hisoka brings up the video. The monster is clearly the one that Tomomi had seen moments before, though now it seemed to be in a different part of the city. He glances at the window and sees it’s not there anymore. Matsuoka speaks, “Is it the one from earlier?”

“We don’t know,” Hisoka was furiously typing at his keyboard, the occasional click of his mouse thrown in, “There wasn’t a good enough visual on the one from earlier. But there’s still no sign of-“

Whatever he might have planned to say, though neither Matsuoka nor Tomomi needed to be told, was interrupted by a flash of light. In front of the monster, stopping it from punching a building, was Grigio, who grabbed his fist – though it would have been more accurate to call it a face.

“Grigio!” Tomomi hadn’t meant to say it, not out loud, but he had. Though he imagined he was just voicing everyone’s thoughts.

As though she had heard him, Grigio grabs the monster’s other arm and pushes it away, then gives a little wave to the camera, before returning her attention to the monster. She runs at the monster and punches it, followed quickly by a kick.

It was odd, to see her taking such an aggressive tactic at a Kaiju, but for some reason, she seemed to be doing so. Tomomi made a mental note to ask about that later. She spun to avoid a punch from one of the monster’s arms, then kicked it once more.

The monster fires a ray from its mouth that Grigio cartwheeled out of the way of, the ray flying over the tops of buildings. Once she was on her feet again, her sword appeared and she moves toward the monster again. Though the monster tries to block them, she still manages to hit it with slashes from her sword.

She jumps out of the way of one of its swinging arms, then beside her, Regina appeared. Grigio’s sword disappeared as she moved her arms into position while Regina too seemed to be preparing to attack.

“Grigio Double Shot!” Though she initially appeared to be using her Grigio Shot, it became clear that it wasn’t the case. From her mouth, Regina fired a beam that was similar to Grigio’s Grigio Shot. It combined with the Grigio Shot, the two beams seeming to swirl around each other.

As the attack hit the monster, instead of blowing up or something, like you’d expect, the monster almost seemed to just. Disappear. Like it was never there at all. All that was left was Grigio and Regina, standing in the sunset like they belonged there.

\---

Asahi got as close to KPaRS base as she dared when she untransformed, then sprinted the rest of the way and through the halls. She didn’t know how she knew, but she had to get there just to double check…

It’s not like she meant to burst into the room and startle poor Hisoka out of his chair. She was at least thankful she hadn’t knocked Tomomi over when she hugged him, though he seemed to be startled.

“Asahi?” Tomomi sounds concerned, though that might be because of how suddenly she came in. Or maybe it was because she was crying now. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“I just…” She hugs him tighter, “I had to make sure that you’re all really you and not…”

“And not what?” Matsuoka inquired gently. She could hear the sound of chair legs moving on the ground, so he must have stood up. Or maybe that was Hisoka, though she was pretty sure he was still on the ground.

“Not a dream…” Asahi pulled a way, just a bit. But she didn’t want to let go, she didn’t want them to disappear. “I can’t take another dream like that.”

The door to the room opens again and this time she looks over her shoulder and sees that Fuyuko, Jun, Rin, Chikako, and Katsuhito had arrived. Where they had been, she didn’t know, but she could see that they were relieved. They seemed to take in the sight in front of them.

Then Chikako loudly declared, “Group hug!” And dashed up to Asahi and Tomomi, wrapping her arms around the both of them. For some reason or another, Jun did the same, then Katsuhito, followed by Rin, and finally Fuyuko.

“Come on Hisoka, Kaoru,” Tomomi called out with a laugh, “It’s not a group hug if we all don’t join in.”

Hisoka finally pulled himself up from the ground and walked over, copying everyone by joining in the hug. Matsuoka watched for a moment, then smiled, walking over. He too, joined in the hug, with a soft chuckle.

Asahi sniffled, “Has anyone told you that you’re all amazing?”

“Amazing?” Jun asked, “No, I think that’s you.” She reaches over Chikako and gives Asahi a pat on the head.

Asahi’s quiet for a moment, trying to calm down. Jun only managed to make her want to cry more, though all of these tears were of happiness. Then she finally manages to say, “I’m glad to have met you all,” She manages to bring a hand up to rub at her eyes, “I’m glad that you’re all real.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Matsuoka asked, “We’re as real as you are.”

She doesn’t respond immediately, instead taking a deep breath. “Kenshin made a dream.” She said, “It was a wonderful dream, with all of you, my family, and with Saki. I almost didn’t want to admit it was a dream. I almost didn’t even realize it was. But it was nice. I almost wanted to stay.”

No one said anything, just listened to her as she continued, “But it was wrong. I knew it was. There were small things that didn’t make sense and things that just seemed a bit too good to be true. Once I realized it was a lie, I knew I couldn’t stay.” She got really quiet, because she almost didn’t want them to hear the last part, “I can’t live a lie. I can’t think something to be true even if it’s not again. No matter how nice it is.”

Tomomi looked down at her, “What do you mean?”

She shakes her head, “It’s… Can we talk about that later? I just… I just want to sleep now.”

Everyone slowly removed themselves from the hug, “Of course,” Matsuoka nodded, “I think we could all use some rest, after today.”


	24. I Have Found That I Don't Need To Hide These Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You've got the Touch! You've got the Power!... Wait, you don't?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not nearly as comical as the summary.

Asahi wasn’t sure how she found herself there, but she led on the roof of KPaRS base, wrapped in a blanket with a pillow beneath her head, staring up at the starry night sky. It was a couple nights after the incident where Kenshin tried to trick her into staying in that dream. She still wondered what might have happened if she had stayed, if she hadn’t pushed it away.

She still thought of Saki when she saw the stars. What had it been like, to see all those planets, to come so much closer to those stars than what you could be from Earth? She wished she asked Saki more about her time before she came to Earth, but she also knew she never really liked to talk about it.

What would it be like to travel the stars, like Saki and her brothers had?

And of course, the most painful and nagging question, what would Saki have done if she hadn’t died before Reugocyte was defeated? Would she have stayed on Earth? Asahi liked to think that their friendship meant that much to Saki, at least. Or would she have left, moved on to some other planet now that the monster that killed her brothers was gone?

Would Saki have ever become an Ultra?

Was Asahi being Grigio, was that just her taking the power that should have been Saki’s? Sometimes, it feels like it.

She fell asleep at some point, only realizing when she woke up the next morning, Chikako next to her, sitting, watching. Asahi scrambles up, startled.

Chikako watches her, silent, then says, “You know, the roof isn’t really where most people tend to sleep. Usually they use beds.”

“Good morning, Chikako!” Asahi laughs a bit, nervous. She really hadn’t meant to fall asleep.

“What brought you up here?”

She scratches the back of her head, frowning slightly at the mess that was her hair. “I uh, well, it’s a good place to look at the stars.”

Chikako stands, brushing off her legs. Asahi noticed she wasn’t in her uniform yet, instead in more causal clothes, grey shorts with a t-shirt with lavender and teal pattern. Over that was a brown sleeveless hoodie, with her usual fingerless gloves. It was odd to see her without her safety glasses, but that made sense. Her causal clothes were hardly something you’d work on machinery in.

“I suppose it is,” Chikako notes, then gives her a smile, “Do you like to look at the stars?”

Asahi looks away, “I guess,” She too stands, picking up the blanket and the pillow. She hadn’t wore her pajamas when she came here last night, but she wasn’t in her usual clothes either. Still, she didn’t look too much like she fell asleep on a roof, at least in terms of her clothing. “They… remind me of Saki.”

Chikako laughed, “Right that… friend of yours. I think you talk about her about as much as you do your brothers.” She turns to leave, “When you get back, you should tell her we all said hi.”

Asahi didn’t respond to that. It wasn’t Chikako’s fault she didn’t know… But still, seeing anyone still talk about Saki like she was alive, it made Asahi… Sad. Because here she was, someone who was never supposed to even exist, living when it should have been Saki.

She stood there for a few moments, before leaving the roof herself. There was no reason to stay at KPaRS today, she just wasn’t feeling up to it. So she went back to Tomomi’s apartment, finding it empty. He was probably out.

She lied on the couch, Regina appearing and trying to cuddle her. She’s not sure how long she’s there, it doesn’t really matter to her. She’s been feeling numb the past few days and it just wasn’t stopping. Nothing she tried fixed it. Not cuddles with Regina, not food or sleep, nor staring at the stars.

Tomomi comes back at some point, she can hear the door open and close, though she’s lying on her side with her back to him, so she can’t see him. But who else would be here? She can hear him set his bag down and walk into the room, then stops.

“Are you feeling okay?” He asked, concern lacing his voice. He takes a few steps closer.

“’M fine.” She mumbles, rolling on to her back. She doesn’t want to worry him, she doesn’t want him to think she might not be able to do her job. After all, if she can’t be Grigio, then what can she be?

“You don’t seem fine,” He responds, now taking on a firm tone, “You’ve been acting strange since you got back from that… Dream.”

She didn’t respond. But he continued anyway, “Something there, it made you upset, didn’t it?” He sits on the edge of the couch, next to her legs. “That’s why you were so aggressive fighting the monster. You were upset. You are upset.”

Asahi just closed her eyes and brought Regina closer, “He used Saki,” She said, “He used her. How dare he use her like that?” She was still angry about that, but she couldn’t bring her voice to be much louder than a whisper.

“It’s understandable that you’re upset about that, you clearly cared about her,” Tomomi nodded, “But that’s not it, either.”

She opens her eyes, Regina, for some reason or another, chooses then to disappear, leaving only the Crystal. There’s a flash and it changes from Regina’s Crystal to the Grigio Crystal.

What was making her so upset? It wasn’t that Kenshin tried to use Saki. It was something else…

_Not-Saki appeared beside her, despite the fact the world seemed frozen. She didn’t have the blanket anymore, but she did seem to have something in her hand. She holds out her palm and there is the Grigio Crystal. But how…?_

_“Take it,” She say, “Break free.”_

_Asahi takes it and Saki disappears in a golden light with a smile. She looks behind her, seeing that Not-Saki was still there, with the blanket. The Saki who appeared… It wasn’t an illusion. That had to be the real Saki, somehow._

_It was a dream. Even though there was a monster here, it was all still a dream. She didn’t need her Gyro here, because none of it was real. Not this version of Ayaka that the monster was rampaging in, not the monster. So, Saki had given her everything she needed._

_After all, the picture looking back at her was Grigio. And Asahi could become Grigio. That was all that mattered._

There it was, Asahi had found her answer. “I may be able to become Grigio,” She finally said, not looking at Tomomi but at the Crystal in her hand. The Crystal in her hand that allowed her to become Grigio, that pictured Grigio, seeming as though nothing could stop her.

_But there’s a part of me that stares back from inside the mirror,_

“But I’m not Grigio.” She finishes.

Tomomi makes a sound, something between in choking sound and a scoff. He looks at her and he’s about to say something.

But all Asahi can think of is how he’ll agree with her. How he’ll see just how much her usefulness is simply because of how a handful of events turned out. How someone else could have been Grigio. How anyone would be a better Grigio than Asahi.

_A part of me that’s scared I might be wrong…_

But that isn’t what he says, not even close, “Why do you think that?”

“What?”

“Why don’t you think you’re Grigio?” He repeated, “I’ve seen you. As far as I can tell, there’s no one else who could be Grigio.”

_That I can’t be strong…_

“Saki could have been,” She argued, “She should have been.”

Whether Tomomi was aware of how callous sounding his next remark was or not, he didn’t let it show, “But she wasn’t.” He looks at her and points, “You are. You are Grigio.”

“I can become Grigio,” She corrected, “But I’m not her. Saki is Grigio, that’s her name. I took it because she gave me this power-“

Tomomi stands up and looks away from her, “Well there you go. She gave you the power, so it doesn’t matter who _should_ have become Grigio.” He stretches, “She made that choice.”

Asahi sits up, “Because she died!” She clutches the Grigio Crystal in her hand, “She didn’t have a choice!”

Startled at her outburst, Tomomi turns to look at her. He examines her for a moment, before sighing and turning away, “I’m going to make some food. You should eat some.”

She wanted to say more, but something in her just couldn’t. So she just sat on the couch, unsure what else to do.

\---

When the monster appeared, Asahi had just finished eating the food Tomomi had left. She hadn’t felt like eating while he was still there, but once he left, she decided that he was right. It seemed to just be a stray monster that wandered into the city, not even causing too much damage, mostly just stepping on things. It almost seemed like it was trying to avoid causing destruction, though it wasn’t succeeding too well.

She figured she’d just transform and help it out of the city and it would all be fine. She picks up her Gyro and the Grigio Crystal, holding them as she always did.

“Color me with your power, Grigio!” Except this time, nothing happened. She did everything the way she normally did and tried over and over. But nothing happened. It was like when she first tried to use Regina’s Crystal after becoming Grigio. Why?

Why couldn’t she transform?

She could have tried one of the Kaiju Crystals, but she just wasn’t able to bring herself to. Instead, she just felt the Gyro, Crystal still inside, drop from her hands and fall to the floor as she too followed, falling to her knees.

If she couldn’t become Grigio, then what good was she? In Ayaka, she had her family, she could be good for them, she could do little things. For them, just her existing was enough. But here, what was the point of being around if she couldn’t do the one thing that made her useful?

But she couldn’t leave, either. So she really was useless.

Numbly, she picks up the Gyro and the Grigio Crystal which fell out of it, and returned to Tomomi’s apartment. She sits on the couch and stares at the Crystal, the visage of Grigio seemingly taunting her. _Look at me. The one who you can’t become anymore. Look at me. The one who Saki should have been._

Tomomi returned once more, noticing her sitting on the couch, “Hey, I’m surprised I didn’t see you help with the Kaiju today.” He noted, sitting down beside her. Then he frowned, noticing that something was wrong. “Are you feeling any better.”

“I can’t.”

He blinks, “What?”

“I can’t become Grigio anymore.”

“Why not?” He can clearly see the Crystal in her hand and the Gyro beside her.

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t work anymore.”

He frowned, concerned. There was a certain sadness to her voice, she was certain of it. But if anything, she didn’t so much feel sad as defeated. Or no, she did feel sad, but it wasn’t for the reasons that Tomomi probably thought. He pauses for a moment, before wrapping his arms around her and giving a hug.

“Maybe you’re just having an off day,” He suggested, “Whatever it is, I’m sure you can overcome it.”

But what if it wasn’t just an “off day”? She’d never even heard of someone having an “off day”, not an Ultra at least. Her brothers never just lost the ability to become Rosso or Blu. So why did she? Why couldn’t she become Grigio.

Tomomi withdraws from the hug, still frowning, when his phone beeps. He looks at it and sighs, “Listen, I’ve got to go,” He stands, regarding her for a moment, “Maybe you should go talk with someone, or go on a walk. It might help you clear your head.”

As he rushes out, she raises her head slightly, watching him leave. He was probably right, but she wasn’t sure who she’d talk to. There was KPaRS, but she really didn’t want to talk to anyone there. They needed Grigio, not Asahi. She didn’t know all that many people Kurokita, there really wasn’t anyone for her to talk to. So maybe just a walk? Not that she particularly wanted to do that.

She closes her eyes, blindly placing the Grigio Crystal on the table. It wasn’t like either of them were going to do her much good anyway. Even though she didn’t know if she could still summon her Kaijus, at this point, was there really a reason? What could they do? In a fight they were a help, but Grigio was the one who had to do most of the work.

Asahi stands up, then numbly walks out the door. A walk it was. She wanders around the city, no goal in mind. Just an aimless walk alone, with just her thoughts. A dangerous thing, though she wasn’t aware of it yet. The mind tends to wander when left alone, after all.

What was happening? Why could she no longer become Grigio? It seemed almost cruel. The only reason she was here, the only use she had in this world, was to become Grigio. But now she couldn’t even do that. Could the Kaiju Crystals still work? Would they work they way they have been, or would they work like they did for Saki, before Asahi became Grigio.

She could try to test it out, but she didn’t want to. The power was a gift from Saki, and Asahi couldn’t even use it right.

She found herself at a park now, one of the several in Kurokita – it wasn’t like she hadn’t been to all of them at some point or another. Parks were nice, she supposed. They usually had a few less people and were nice and open. Plus, it was nice to watch children play and families and friends spend time together. Even if it made her miss her own family so much more.

Maybe she should sit down somewhere, let herself think. Her legs were starting to get tired, she must have walked quite a bit. Not like she was paying attention. She’d been too lost in her thoughts to do that. But she recognized where she was, so she knew she at least covered a fair amount of distance.

When was the last time she had been here? It wasn’t horribly important, but regardless, the memory was coming to her. The last time she’d been here… it had been with Akimitsu and his sisters, when Kenshin created the evil Jasyuline. When Akimitsu had given her the Jasyuline Crystal.

What was it he said when he gave it to her?

_“You should take Jasyuline, their suppose to help you, after all.”_

There was some irony here, she was sure. Or maybe not. Jasyuline, a gift from a boy with a shining hope to help others and be a hero, not even able fulfill its duty’s anymore. How could something that was supposed to help Grigio, do so when Grigio couldn’t even appear. Or at least not by her hand.

She wondered what Akimitsu might say, if he knew what had happened. The boy was, by all means, very compassionate. He was the one who gave her the idea to try to use Grigio Regina and the Kaiju Crystals to help her when fighting. He saw a world where Ultras and Kaijus could work together and didn’t hesitate to voice it. He created Jasyuline for the sole purpose of helping Grigio. Perhaps he didn’t even realize how much help he’d been.

Not that it mattered much anymore.

“Asahi!”

Asahi was startled by the voice calling her name, turning to face it. Jogging towards her the boy himself, Akimitsu, a big grin on his face. He held a notebook in his hands, a pen clipped into the inside of the spiral binding.

“Oh,” She muttered, before speaking up, trying to place a smile on her face, “Hey, Akimitsu.”

Akimitsu regards her for a moment, then frowns. He tilts his head, “When that monster showed up earlier, I didn’t see you – er, well, Grigio.” He notes, fiddling with the edge of his notebook. He certainly seemed concern, probably recognizing that something was wrong. It wasn’t like Asahi thought she was doing all that good of a job hiding it, even the smile she tried to wear couldn’t have been all that convincing. “…Is something wrong?”

Asahi shakes her head, “It’s… It’s nothing you should worry about.” She fiddles with the edge of her cardigan, looking away from him, “I just… Wasn’t able to make it during the fight.”

It didn’t look like he bought it, the frown he wore only deepened. It was odd, he was only ten, yet he seemed far more concerned than anyone his age ever should be. He stared at her for a moment, “Asahi, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better about it or something.” He places his hands on his hips, the one holding the notebook more of a fist resting. “At the very least, you should talk to your friends about it. They know, and that’s a thing friends do.”

“It’s… It’s nice that you’re worried, Akimitsu.” Asahi responded, looking down to him, “But it really isn’t something you should be worrying about. Everything will…”

Everything will what? She didn’t really want to lie to him, not after he insisted that she didn’t. But she also really didn’t want to tell him just what was happening. He didn’t need to wonder or worry about what might happen if a monster started to rampage while she was unable to become Grigio.

“Everything will be what?” He asked, “Please, don’t tell me everything will be fine. Clearly something’s wrong.”

She sighed, “You’re right.” He seemed happy that she relented in her hesitance, but he also still seemed to want to know what was going on. She supposed it couldn’t hurt to tell him. There wasn’t much else she could do, not without dodging the question entirely or lying. “The reason Grigio didn’t show up to fight the monster earlier is because I can’t become Grigio.”

Akimitsu’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean?”

She looked away for a moment, before responding, “I don’t know why, but I can’t transform and become Grigio.” She sighed again, “So Grigio can’t fight monsters.”

He blinked in response, “That’s… Well I don’t know much about how your powers work, but that’s sounds a bit odd.”

“As far as I know,” Asahi began, “It isn’t normal. But… But I don’t exactly have a lot of experience there either.”

He hums for a moment, then gives her a smile, “Well whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

She… She wasn’t as sure of that, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead she shrugged and said, “Yeah, I guess.”

It looked like Akimitsu wanted to say something more, but he was cut off yelling and people running. The ground shakes and the two of them hear a roar. Asahi nearly freezes, because she recognizes that roar. Or well, sort of. It wasn’t quite right, but… But it sounded like Grigio King’s, or maybe Grigio Bones’. The two of them turn in the direction of the sounds.

There, walking through the city, seemingly with a purpose, was what resembled Grigio King, though it seemed to have glowing blue markings across its body. It paused for a moment, looking around like it was searching for something. After it was done pausing, it continued to move, heading in the direction of the park.

“A Kaiju,” Akimitsu breathed, “This is… This is bad.”

It was about then that Choko came running towards them, calling for Akimitsu, “Aki, we need to go.” She said, “Let’s leave Asahi to her job…”

Asahi frowned at that. She couldn’t fight this monster, not if she couldn’t become Grigio. Not to mention how much it reminded her of Saki… She shook her head and said, “I’m sorry.”

Akimitsu was quiet for a moment, before looking up at her, “You keep saying that you lost the ability to become Grigio,” He whispered, “What does that mean? What does it matter that you can’t transform and become an Ultra? That doesn’t make you any less Grigio.”

Her eyes widened slightly at that, “Akimitsu…” She sighed, “I’m not Grigio. I’ve never been. All I could ever do is become Grigio.”

He shakes his head at that, “That’s not true! I know who you are. You’re the one who fights with monsters, you’re the one who protects the city, you’re the one who’s saved so many people! You’re the one who saved me and my sisters!” He points at her, “Asahi, Grigio, it doesn’t matter what you’re called. You’re still you.”

Asahi didn’t have a response to that.

Choko placed a hand on Akimitsu’s shoulder, before speaking, “He’s right,” She’s quiet, as she begins, “You’ve done so much. And I’m certain that there’s not a person who knows your connection to Grigio who doesn’t think that you _are_ Grigio. No one thinks you simply become her, other than yourself.”

“It shouldn’t be my power,” Asahi said, “It should never have been my power. It should have been Saki’s.”

Placing his hand on his chest, Akimitsu closes his eyes and says, “I don’t know about that… All I know is that you are a hero.” He opens his eyes, “And a hero never gives up! Even when they’re feeling down or things seem bleak! They keep fighting until the end, until they’ve done everything they can!”

The monster was so much closer now. They really didn’t have time for this, Akimitsu and Choko were in danger. Why were they just standing around the doing this? Asahi wasn’t sure, but she knew one thing, in that moment. She turned around, facing where the monster was, closing her eyes as a warmth filled her. Akimitsu held a flame that she couldn’t let be extinguished.

She isn’t quite sure what happened next, but next thing she knew, Grigio stood. She stood in front of the monster, in front of Akimitsu and Choko. She stood between them, like a barrier. She stood before the city, like a beacon. One that was not as strong as it could be, but was still strong enough to shine and pierce the darkness. One that no one ever realized wasn’t shining as bright as it could until it was gone. One that returned different but the same.

In a way, it was almost like Grigio was reborn.

Almost.

_I’ve been afraid, never standing on my own_

Asahi knew that though she was able to transform, she didn’t have her Crystals with her. She would have to fight this monster with only her power. Not with the help of Kaijus and certainly not by borrowing power from other Ultras. She wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to do… But she was going to try.

_Listen when I say, I swear it here today, I will not surrender,_

Asahi summons her bow, quickly taking aim and firing a barrage of arrows at the monster. It roared, then quickly focused its attention on her. The strange form of Grigio – because it looked far too much like Grigio King not to be somehow connected – opened its mouth. Before Asahi could do much, it breathed hot flames at her. She didn’t have room to dodge nor time to create a barrier, so she had to take the attack.

The flames were hot, she thought they were close to the heat she felt when fighting Pandon, though she wasn’t sure. She stumbled back, grunting. Then, as the breath of fire died, she ran at the monster, first punching it, then following with a kick.

She jumped back and used her Grigio Shot, though she was dismayed to see it did little. The monster roared, then the cannon on it’s back began to gather power. Asahi knew that she had no way of stopping the attack, she couldn’t do all that much damage to this Kaiju and Grigio Bind wouldn’t solve the problem. She took a deep breath.

The only solution here that she could find was to block the attack with a barrier. It wasn’t the best plan, certainly not one she was horribly fond of, but she had little choice. If she moved out of the way, who knows how much extra damage the city would take.

Asahi summoned her barrier right as the monster finished gathering its energy, the cannon firing. As intended, the beam shot right into her barrier, which meant it was taking the brunt of the attack. Despite that, and despite Asahi being able to make the strongest barriers of her and her brothers, she was struggling. She had to keep this barrier up as long as she could to absorb the monster’s attack, but it was tiring. She hears her Color Timer beep.

The cannon’s beam finally ends. Asahi didn’t have much time to contemplate what to do next. She was far too tired. Instead, she felt the transformation drop as she fell to the ground.

_This life is mine_


	25. This Life is Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi's sort of figuring out everything.

Grigio’s lack of appearance earlier certainly raised some eyebrows, but few thought all that much of it. But Tomomi knew why, and it wasn’t something he was going to keep to himself. He quickly realized that Asahi wasn’t going to talk to anyone over at KPaRS about her current… predicament. So he took it upon himself to inform them of the situation.

Were this anything else, he’d leave it to her, but she was clearly not going to tell them. For whatever reason. Tomomi sighed as he made his way through KPaRS’ base. This wasn’t a conversation he particularly felt like having, but it was one that needed to be done. If not by Asahi, then by him. And it sure wasn’t going to be Asahi.

When he enters the room, it looks exactly how it usually would. Matsuoka sat at his desk, most likely working on paperwork. Rin and Jun were at their desks, Rin typing at their keyboard, while Jun was looking a bit bored. Fuyuko seemed to be sorting through some papers, of what he couldn’t see. Hisoka was typing away on his computer, as he often was. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Matsuoka noticed his entrance, turning to look at him. “Tomomi, what brings you here? Asahi didn’t stop by today…”

Jun looked up, seeming almost excited to be doing something else, “We didn’t see here during the monster attack earlier, either.”

“That has to do with why I’m here, actually,” Tomomi states, shaking his head, “I didn’t think she’d come here and tell you. Not with the mood she was in earlier.”

Finally, Rin too turns their attention to him, “Tell us what?” They frown, “Is something wrong?”

Tomomi takes a moment before responding, “Asahi can’t transform into Grigio.” Even Hisoka stops typing at that. He gives it a moment to sink in, taking in the shocked expressions of everyone. Then he continues, “I don’t know why, she doesn’t either. But that’s why she didn’t show up earlier.”

With a frown, Matsuoka was the first to speak up, “That isn’t good.” It was a simple statement, maybe even one that didn’t need saying. But it certainly voiced everyone’s thoughts.

Sighing, Tomomi nodded, “Yeah… She seemed pretty upset…” Though now that he thought about it… “Actually, she seemed a bit upset before, too. But she was especially upset after that.”

Fuyuko frowned, “We’ll have to adjust our responses until she can become Grigio again,” She said, “We have no way of knowing when that will be…”

“We’ll be able to,” Matsuoka said, his tone firm, “We have to, really.”

Tomomi didn’t feel comfortable leaving, yet. Instead he took a seat, looking out the window. No one said anything, frankly, he didn’t think anyone minded. He felt better, waiting here, in case something happened. Plus, if Asahi didn’t leave the apartment, he wanted to give her some space.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, a while, given how much he began to shift. Eventually, he stands, deciding that he ought to return home. Asahi will have had enough time, if she was even still there. Truthfully, he was rather worried, Asahi seemed very put off. But he wasn’t sure how to help, this wasn’t exactly something that anyone would really know how to deal with.

Before he could even make it to the door, though, Hisoka quickly speaks, “There’s a monster, it seemed to have appeared in the city.”

Fuyuko stands, “Is it one of Kenshin’s?”

Hisoka frowns, then shakes his head, “No, it didn’t appear like his do. This one appeared more in a sort of flash of light.”

“Do we know what monster it is?” Matsuoka asked.

Hisoka brings up a video of the monster, stalking about the city. “No, it doesn’t match any in our databases…”

But Tomomi recognized the monster, slightly. He’d seen a picture of it, before. On one of Asahi’s Crystals. It wasn’t an exact match, at least he didn’t think it was, there seemed to be a few details that were different. Still, he voiced his observation, “It looks like one of Asahi’s Crystals, Grigio King.”

With a tilt of his head, Matsuoka hummed, “How curious…” He shakes his head, “Regardless, we’ll have to do something about it, without Grigio stopping it will be on us.”

Jun and Rin nod, standing. They don’t even make it out of the room themselves, though, when Hisoka gasped. He furiously types on his computer, bringing up another video, one at a different angle. This showed Grigio, standing in front of the monster.

Jun turns around, looks at the video feed, then blinks, “That’s… That’s Grigio.”

“I thought she couldn’t transform?” Rin queried, tugging at the end of their scarf.

“I thought that too…” Tomomi trailed. They all watch as Grigio attempted to fight the monster.

Fuyuko tilted her head, “Why is she trying to fight it alone? Why not use her Crystals?”

Tomomi thought for a moment, “She might have left her Crystals at the apartment, so she can’t use them.”

Hisoka shook his head, “There’s no way she’ll be able to defeat that monster alone.” He typed a bit more, “She, at best, might be able to stop it from causing too much damage but…”

Then the cannon on the monster’s back began to gather energy. It quickly became clear that Grigio wasn’t going to move out of the way of the attack. It wasn’t a surprise that she used a barrier to try to block it, but it did little to keep them off the edge of their seats. They had no choice but to watch as she struggled to keep the barrier up. When the attack finally ended, Grigio fell, disappearing with a bright light. The monster too, disappeared, much in the same way it appeared. A flash of light.

Fuyuko looked to Matsuoka, “We should look for her.”

Matsuoka nodded, “Yes, Jun, Rin, Fuyuko, look for Asahi.”

The three nod, rushing out. Tomomi was tempted to go with them, but ultimately chose against it. He wondered how Asahi was suddenly able to become Grigio again. Could something have happened to make it possible? Or was her earlier attempt a fluke? He doubted the latter, but he also couldn’t think of what might cause her to suddenly regain that ability.

“You’re worried,” Matsuoka said, glancing at him, “That’s understandable.”

Tomomi laughed wryly, “Of course I am.” He said, “She clearly used a lot of energy in blocking that attack and…”

Matsuoka gave him a small smile, “I get it.” He tilts his head, “Fuyuko, Jun, and Rin will make sure she’s okay.”

“I know they will.”

\---

Something was shaking Asahi, she wasn’t sure what. She really didn’t want to bother with it, honestly. But it wouldn’t stop shaking her. So she tried to shake away the haze herself, at the very least so she could get the actual shaking to stop. She lifts her arm and managed to swat at what she thought was shaking her. She didn’t hit anything, but it got the shaking to calm a bit.

“Okay,” An irritated voice that she was pretty sure she recognized said, “Now I know you’re awake. So open up those eyes. We need to get back to base and you need to rest somewhere proper.”

With a groan, Asahi managed to open her eyes, greeted with Jun’s tired smile. Asahi manages to pull herself into a sitting position. She was on the ground, with Jun at her side, Rin and Fuyuko standing off to the side a bit.

“Why are… Why are you here…?” Asahi asks, briefly running her hand through her hair.

Rin gave her a small smile, “Looking for you.”

“Why…?”

Fuyuko rolled her eyes, “Why do you think?”

Asahi just… Well she was feeling rather tired. She had… She’d blocked that monster’s cannon, hadn’t she? Yeah, that was why she was so tired. It took a lot of energy and…

“Where did the monster go?” Asahi asked, “I don’t remember seeing what happened after it’s attack.”

Jun shrugged, “It just… disappeared. We don’t know for sure where it went, but it isn’t here.” She helps Asahi up, “Come on, you clearly need to rest.

Asahi nodded, letting Jun help her, “Yeah, sounds good.”

She was… Feeling a bit better, oddly. It might have something to do with what Akimitsu and Choko had said to her. Maybe they were… Maybe they were right. She always regarded Grigio and herself to be different people, but maybe that wasn’t the case. It always felt wrong to think that she _was_ Grigio, but now she wasn’t so sure. Somehow, it didn’t feel wrong to consider herself and Grigio the same. Now it felt… It felt right.

_But I don’t intend to suffer any longer,_

She liked that idea. Asahi Minato. Ultrawoman Grigio. One and the same.

“You good?” Fuyuko asked, “You seem to be… Pretty deep in thought.”

Asahi smiles, probably the first real one she’s given today, “Yeah, everything’s…” She pauses, trying to think of the proper words, “Everything’s happy!”

Fuyuko made a strange face at that, so did Rin and Jun. But they didn’t question her.

\---

The next day arrived rather quickly, mostly because Asahi slept the rest of the day. She was tired, but now, having woken up and eaten breakfast, was prepared for whatever might happen. Or at least, she hoped she was. But she was hopeful about her ability to handle anything that the day threw at her.

All of KPaRS seemed to notice, but mostly it was Tomomi. He’d saw how she was the day before, so her current cheer, while a return to form, was odd. He commented about it, “You seem a lot more cheerful today.”

She gave him a smile, “I just realized… The things that made Grigio a hero, they were always me. I tried to think of myself and Grigio as two different people…” She looked away for a moment, then back to him, “But that wasn’t right. It doesn’t matter whether I’m Grigio or Asahi, all those actions are mine.”

He took in her words, then smiled, “Well,” He began, “I’m glad you’ve figured it out.”

With a grin, she nods, “Me too.”

_Here’s where your dominion falls apart._

Tomomi had to leave, which left Asahi in the room with Matsuoka, Hisoka, Rin, Jun, and Fuyuko. She thought about going to visit Katsuhito and Chikako, but ultimately decided against it. Mostly because she heard they were working on a… project. Or at least, Chikako was. And she didn’t really want to risk getting too near to it in case it exploded. (It probably said something that explosions were a legitimate concern when Chikako was involved).

So she stayed in the room, hanging out in one of the chairs. She balanced it back, craning her neck to see out of the window. She was bored, yes, but she was ready. Because she was certain the monster was going to come back. They’d chose to call it Grigio Raiden, since it resembled one of the Grigio Kaijus enough to warrant sharing a name. There was no reason for Grigio Raiden to simply give up after yesterday, she’d barely even fought it.

When it would appear, she was ready. It didn’t matter if it was today, tomorrow, in a week, or in a month. She’d fight it. With the power of her Crystals or without them, she’d find a way. She wasn’t even sure if she could use any of her Crystals, wasn’t sure if she could transform into Grigio again, but she was willing to try.

After all, what was it Akimitsu had said? _“… All I know is that you are a hero. And a hero never gives up! Even when they’re feeling down or things seem bleak! They keep fighting until the end, until they’ve done everything they can!”_

Asahi hadn’t done everything she could, so she couldn’t give up.

It didn’t take long before the moment she was waiting for came. It wasn’t much of a surprise when Hisoka told them all the Grigio Raiden had appeared again. Asahi stands quickly, taking out her Gyro and Grigio Crystal.

_I’m shattering the mirror that kept me split in pieces,_

_That stood between my mind and heart_

She looks to the others in the room, “I’ll deal with Grigio Raiden.” She transforms, soon standing in front of Grigio Raiden, like she had the day before. But this time she knew what she was doing.

_This is where I’ll start._

Grigio Raiden wastes no time in charging at her with a roar, slashing with its claws. Asahi moves out of the way, using Mr. Juggler’s Crystal to summon her sword. In return, she slashes Grigio Raiden.

_Now this conversation’s finally over, mirror mirror, now we’re done,_

It slashes at her again, though she spins out of the way, kicking it in retaliation. Asahi dodges out of the way of its tail, stabbing at it. She kicks it once more, causing Grigio Regina to stumble back. She dodges out of the way of another attack, trading her sword out for her bow, summoning Grigio Regina to fight alongside her.

_I’ve pulled myself together now, my mind and heart are one._

_Finally one!_

She shoots several arrows at Grigio Raiden, causing it to roar. It breaths its fire breath at her again, prompting her to dodge out of the way, flipping over Regina. Regina fires her missiles at the other Grigio.

After recovering from Regina’s attack, Asahi sees that energy is gather at the cannon on Grigio Raiden’s back. She couldn’t just block the attack again, she knew that. She needed to do something about it.

_I won’t be possessed,_

Then an idea came.

_Burdened by your Royal Test,_

When Grigio Raiden’s cannon fired, Regina attempted to counter with her own attack. Asahi did much the same, putting all her energy into her Grigio Shot.

_I will not surrender,_

It was a struggle. She wasn’t sure that even with Regina’s help that she’d be able to stop the attack. But she had to try. She had to stop this monster. It may not have been one of Kenshin’s, but it very clearly didn’t belong on this Earth either. The way it disappeared and appeared in a flash of light told her that.

So she wasn’t afraid of what the full force of her and Regina’s attack would do to it. She kept pushing, focusing and putting all her energy into the attack. She believed that they could do it, she knew that they had to. It was really their only shot at hopefully getting rid of this monster.

After much struggle between the three, Asahi and Regina finally won. It was Asahi’s Grigio Shot that pushed through the beam of Grigio Raiden’s cannon, landing right in the chest of the monster. The monster roared in pain, then exploded, like a firework. With that explosion and a flash of light, there was nothing left.

Were it not for the destruction left in it’s place, it would have been like Grigio Raiden had never appeared at all. Regina too disappeared in a flash of light, though in this case simply returning to her Crystal.

Asahi had did it, even if it was with Regina’s help. They did it. They beat Grigio Raiden. I felt great, but that might have simply been because she realized… Well she realized that she was constantly selling herself short. She may not have had the same powers as her brothers, but Grigio could be a force to be reckoned with. Asahi could be a force to be reckoned with.

She spins around, placing her back to where the monster had been. She raises an arm to the sky and calls out with much cheer, “Happy!”

_This Life is Mine!_


	26. But Now I Know What Is Pure Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi talks about her family. Meanwhile, Katsumi, Isami, and Zero are finding that more and more monsters have been appearing in Ayaka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of the time of posting this, I'm working on the final chapter! So hopefully I'll have that done by tomorrow since school starts in two days for me and I'll have less time. Hopefully I'll remember to continue posting consistently, though.

It was lunch time, though for Asahi, it was a bit abnormal. She didn’t normally have her lunch at KPaRS’ cafeteria, but today was an exception. Chikako insisted that she come and join everyone at lunch. Asahi agreed because she did enjoy hanging out with everyone, they were really some of her only friends in Kurokita.

Thankfully, the tables weren’t all that small, so having six people sitting around a single table wasn’t even close to being uncomfortable. It was a circular table, with Chikako next to Asahi, then Katsuhito, Fuyuko, Jun, and Rin was the next closest to Asahi. They were all eating, talking about various topics.

Asahi wasn’t sure how the topic got brought up, but it didn’t take long for Jun to say something to Katsuhito, “The thing about having even just one sibling, is there’s always at least one who’s the responsible one and one who’s not.”

Katsuhito frowned, “See, I don’t know enough about having siblings to dispute this.” He shoves some rice in his mouth, chews, then continues, “But it sounds a bit fake.”

Jun sighs, seemingly in defeat. Then she seems to realize something, turning to look at Asahi, “Hey, Asahi, you said you have two brothers, right?”

Asahi hadn’t been paying all that much attention to the conversation – she had been talking with Rin about something – so she wasn’t actually sure why Jun was asking. She looks over, tilting her head, “Huh? Yeah…”

“Ooh!” Chikako grinned, standing up slightly as she planted her hands on the table, causing Asahi to lean back bit, “You’ve only talked about them a bit. You should tell us more about your brothers!”

Rin smiled, “Yeah, what are they like?”

What were her brothers like? It wasn’t like Asahi didn’t like talking about her brothers – she loved talking about her family in general, they were all amazing – but she was surprised that they were all taking an interest in them. She supposed that her brothers could be considered a bit more interesting than most, given they were both Ultras, but still. Then again, her brothers were what most would consider a bit unusual, or maybe that was just her whole family – herself included.

But she liked to talk about her brothers, so she wasn’t going to turn down a chance to talk about them. She smiles as she begins to think of the best way to describe them. “Well, Katsumi is the oldest, he’s – generally speaking – usually the most responsible.” Katsumi was always the one who made sure Isami and her were okay. He usually tempered, or at least tried to, Isami’s occasional recklessness. “He works with Dad at our clothing shop, Quatro M. They both come up with clothing designs, though I honestly think a lot of Katsumi’s are better than Dad’s.”

Fuyuko laughed at that, “Oh, come on,” She said, “Your dad’s shirts can’t be that bad.”

“Several of his shirts are really, really, poor jokes,” Asahi responded, her tone flat, “And one of the shirts he designed was just. Sweat stains.”

There’s a moment of silence, then Katsuhito blinks, “Who would even buy that?”

She laughed, “Here’s the thing! Mr. Aizen did!” She explained between laughs, having to pause to catch her breath, “And he bought a whole bunch of them!”

“Why!” Jun bursts, “Why would _anyone_ do that?”

Asahi shook her head, having finally calmed down from her laughing fit, “Apparently, he wanted an excuse to see Katsumi and Isami. He was using a Gyro and a Crystal to become” She takes a deep breath before continuing, knowing she’d need it for the name Mr. Aizen took, “Ultraman Orb Dark Noir Black Swartz.”

There was silence once more. This time, it was Chikako who broke the silence, repeating, “Ultraman Orb Dark Noir Black Swartz?” She pauses, as though she was still trying to take in the name. Maybe she was, it was, after all, a pretty ridiculous name. “What kinda name is that?”

“Did he seriously use the word black twice, but in different languages?” Rin sounded incredulous.

Asahi nods, “It’s crazy, I know.” She sighed, “Mr. Aizen was, in hindsight, pretty weird.”

Fuyuko drums her fingers against the table, her eyes closed for a moment. She opens them, “What about your other brother?” She inquired, “Isami?”

Humming, Asahi thought about the best way to describe her other brother. “Well, Isami’s the middle child, of the three of us.” She began, closing her eyes to focus. “He’s a lot like Mom, he likes to make gadgets and science-y things. He can be a bit… hotheaded sometimes, and stubborn. Sometimes he wants to try to do everything himself, but he means well. Usually he works with Mom.”

Isami was nice, certainly, but she’d seen what could happen when he chose to be rash. It wasn’t always bad, but a lot of times that sort of brashness had a tendency to not work out as well as anyone would have hoped. That’s why it was always good that Katsumi was so much more controlled, so he could balance out Isami.

“So each of your brothers take after one of your parents,” Jun noted, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

Rin nodded in agreement, “What do you do?” They clarified, “When you’re not here doing Ultra things.”

“Oh,” Asahi tried not to shift in her seat too much, “Well, I, uh, I guess I don’t do all that much.”

Her brothers were really simple, they both took after one of their parents. Katsumi after their dad, Isami after their mom. But Asahi wasn’t that simple, she didn’t share Katsumi and their dad’s skill or love of clothing design. She didn’t share Isami or their mom’s love of technology and science. She mostly just did her own thing. Sometimes she helped out around the shop, sometimes she would do a little to help Isami and their mom.

Katsumi and Isami had the things that the did, but Asahi… Asahi didn’t. Really, she barely left Ayaka and when she did it was so she could go and briefly help her brothers. Or something like when she met Zero. Maybe that’s why it was so odd being in Kurokita, because she just wasn’t used to being outside of Ayaka.

“Really?” Katsuhito frowned, “That’s… I’m surprised.”

She raises her hands, shaking them side to side, “Well, I mean, when Katsunii and Isanii are gone, I keep an eye on Ayaka – in case something happens.” She was quick to add, “And when they need some extra help, I make sure to get to them so we can become Gruebe.”

Fuyuko frowned, tilting her head, “Gruebe?” She echoed in confusion. Oh, had Asahi not mentioned Gruebe to them before? Well, since her brothers weren’t here, there really had never been a reason to. “What’s a Gruebe?”

Asahi scratches the back of her head, “Oh, well Rosso, Blu, and Grigio can… Can pretty much fuse into one Ultra, Gruebe.” She explained, “It’s our strongest form. Rosso and Blu can also become their own form, without me, called Ruebe.”

Chikako tilts her head, “Maybe that’s a part of why Kenshin brought you here,” She pondered, “After all, he wants revenge… And it would be a lot easier if the three of you couldn’t use your full power.”

With a hum, Asahi tugs at the end of her hair, ultimately twirling it around a finger, “I guess that would make sense,” She wondered. It was certainly a logical reason to bring her to Kurokita, to another world. Because she would be the easiest to separate, and most likely the weakest of the three of them. She’d put up less of a fight, in theory, so she would be the most obvious one to bring to another world.

Fuyuko nods, seemingly agreeing with Chikako’s theory, “It would make the most sense, really. The three of you would be too much of a danger to his plan to keep you together.”

“Still, if that’s his plan… then does that mean he’s been appearing to my brothers too, over in Ayaka?” Asahi couldn’t help but wonder, and worry somewhat. While she knew her brothers could take care of themselves, probably much better than she could, she didn’t know what Kenshin could be up to over there. Maybe they were fine, maybe Kenshin hadn’t tried anything. She just didn’t have a way of know and that… That just made her worry, just a bit.

\---

“Hey, Katsumi, Isami,” Zero called out from in front of Quatro M. He was standing outside the shop, having walked out because he was hearing a commotion. He was unsurprised with what he saw, given how the past month or so had been going. It made him glad he was here, at least so he could help the two brothers. “There’s another monster.”

The two rushed out to meet up with him, nearly skidding to a halt beside him. Isami groaned, “Another one?” He took a moment to eye the monster, almost glaring at it in annoyance.

“That’s the seventh one this month,” Katsumi noted, frowning. He was right to be concerned, since, in Zero’s experience, this many monster attacks in a month was not natural. Usually, it meant that someone was bringing the monsters, that or they were doing something to cause the monsters to appear more frequently and violently. That went double given Ayaka never really had any monster naturally appear. Sure, it happened, but they very rarely came into the city.

Zero crossed his arms, “Whatever the reason,” He said, “We should probably do something about it, yeah?”

Katsumi and Isami nod, quickly transforming into Rosso and Blu. Zero followed suit, landing beside them. The monster was teal and yellow, with three heads, horns coming out a curling backwards in the center head, where the eyes would be. Zero didn’t recognize this monster, which meant he had little idea of what to expect. It roared when they appeared.

“Hey,” Isami said, “Haven’t we fought this one before?”

Katsumi tilted his head and took a good look at the monster, “Oh yeah, isn’t this the one that attacked Aizen Tech that one time?” The monster swung its tail at them, prompting Katsumi and Isami to move out of the way. “This is the one that can turn things to stone, right?”

Isami nods, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

“Great,” Zero said, “That means you two know how to beat it.” He crossed his arms, gently leaning against a building, seemingly relaxed.

Turning slightly to look at him, Katsumi asked, “What are you doing?”

Zero effectively grinned, “I’ll leave this to you two.” He said, “You should be able to handle it.”

In response, Isami pretty much rolled his eyes, “Let’s just deal with this monster, yeah?” Katsumi nodded as his brother continued, “If I remember right, R/B Sluggers worked pretty well against her.”

The two summoned their respective R/B Slugger and took their fighting stance. The two slashed at the monster, alternating their attacks as well as dodging the heads of the monster. When she fired her beam, the one they recalled could petrify whatever it hit, they dodged out of the way. They were lucky, this time, the beam didn’t hit a window to bounce off of.

The two didn’t have too much trouble, at least not at first. The Kaiju revealed her eye, the one that was hidden in her mouth. So, the two ran to attack, only for the mouth to close and the other heads to attack. While distracted by the heads, the two Ultras were soon sent flying thanks to the two tails.

It was about then that Zero gently pushed himself off the building he was leaning against. “Are you two alright?” He inquired, leaning down a bit to look at the Katsumi and Isami. The two were on their backs on the ground, trying to get back up as fast as they could. “I thought you said you fought this monster before.”

“We have,” Isami gritted, the two of them managing to bring themselves up to a standing position.

“Just for some reason,” Katsumi added, “It seems she’s stronger.”

Zero takes a moment to examine the monster, then looks back to Katsumi and Isami. “Alright then, don’t you have something stronger to throw at it?”

Katsumi glanced over to Zero, “We could become Ruebe,” He said, “You could also, I don’t know, help.”

With a sigh, Zero shrugged, “Yeah, why not?”

Between the three Ultras, they end up making quick work of the monster. With Zero’s help, it wasn’t even necessary for Rosso and Blu to become Ruebe. With one final attack, the monster disappeared like all the others had. In a curious storm of feathers.

“See,” Zero said, “That wasn’t too bad.”

In response, Isami just grumbled, “Easy for you to say…”

“Did you say something?”

“No,”

Katsumi sighed, “Let’s just go and-“

“Oh, look,” With a bored tone and slow clapping, the three turned to face the voice. There stood that person from before, Kenshin. “You three dealt with another one of my monsters.”

“You!” Isami yelled, his ire clear in his voice. He rushed at Kenshin, swinging his R/B Slugger. Kenshin stepped out of the way.

“My, oh my,” Kenshin sounded rather smug, “You three are certainly shaping up to be quite the pain. Like your sister.”

Katsumi, though clearly angry and worried, spoke with an even tone, “Where is she?”

In response, Kenshin tutted, “That would be too easy, and no fun for me. I’ll relish in my revenge, regardless of what you think.” He spins around and kicks Isami, sending him flying towards Katsumi and Zero, “Now, it’s best you three better prepare. The finale is far sooner than you might think.”

There was little time to do much else, as Kenshin disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. Katsumi helped Isami back up while Zero placed a hand on his hip. He turned to the two, a degree of concern in his voice when he finally spoke, “If that guy is serious,” He said, “I think you’re going to need to be prepared.”

\---

That evening, the Minatos went about their dinner as they almost always did. The only difference now, was that instead of Asahi at the table, they had Zero. It had taken some time and convincing to get him to join them, but once they got him once, he hadn’t stopped. Mio and Ushio were pretty sure he actually enjoyed having dinner with them, at least to some extent.

Zero didn’t know about it, but when the Minatos found out about Zero’s limited experience with family – via some off-hand comment – they’d all met up and decided. So long as Zero was in Ayaka, they were going to do their best to show him what it was like to be apart of a family. Actively apart of a family.

The Minatos had a tendency to do that sort of thing. They did it with Asahi, but in a more similar manner, they did it with Riku. And Riku had only been in Ayaka for two days, Zero had been there much longer. So they thought their efforts were going rather well. Admittedly, Zero didn’t actually do all the much with the family, they often had to convince him to, but he also didn’t really share a lot of interest with them.

Still, they were ever thankful he was helping them look for Asahi, even if that search wasn’t having much luck. They’d find her, or she’d find her way back to them. They knew it.

Though it also seemed like they had something else to worry about now. Kenshin. And it seemed Kenshin also had something to do with Asahi’s disappearance. It was entirely possible that he could be doing something to her, or forcing her to fight all sorts of monsters. But without knowing where she was, all they could do was hope for the best and trust Asahi to manage.

Even if Katsumi and Isami were worried sick. Even if her whole family was. Even Zero seemed to be concerned. Asahi was… She was strong enough and she was an Ultra. She’d be fine. She had to be.

As it turned out, no one in the Minato household had any idea how true that was.


	27. All My Broken Down Ideals, I Know One Day They Will Heal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of monsters, how tiring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finished writing this! I also split the finale into two chapters, so this is now 30 chapters.

Asahi was tired. So was the rest of KPaRS, in varying degrees, but Asahi was particularly tired. Because she kept having to transform into Grigio to deal with all the monsters that kept showing up. They were all Kenshin’s, they could tell that. But knowing where they came from wasn’t all that helpful. Because they couldn’t make him stop, certainly not when he hadn’t shown himself.

So Asahi was tired, there was always at least one Kaiju a day, sometimes more, and it had been like that for several weeks now. Even cuddling with Regina – or any of her Kaijus – did little to make her less tired. Right now, she was sitting on Tomomi’s couch, rolling a sucker around her mouth, deciding that it at least gave her something low effort to do.

Tomomi looked over at her, “I hope your not getting too wore down from all these monster attacks,” He frowned, “It wouldn’t be good if something happened and you were too tired to properly help with it.”

“I know,” Asahi sighed, “But what can we do about it? With all these monster attacks, I have to help.”

Tomomi sat down beside her, a cup of half coffee, half creamer, in hand. He looked over at her, noting the way her shoulders were sagging and she leaned against the back of the couch. She wasn’t sad, she was just tired. And he’d never seen her so tired, usually, regardless of what had been happening, she was her cheerful and energetic self. But it seemed like the past few weeks had been tiring her, more than anything else since she came to Kurokita.

“Are you going to be able to keep this up?” He asked, watching as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

“I have to,” She responded, “If something happens…”

“You have to help,” He finished, a small smile on his face. “Just be careful not to push yourself too much.”

She brings her head back up, opening her eyes as she looked over at him, “I’ll try,”

He gives her a pat on the head, “Yeah, you do that.”

Truthfully, Asahi wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up. But she knew that Kenshin had to up to something, so she wasn’t going to give up. The only problem was, it was getting harder and harder to simply pacify the Kaijus. Which meant that sooner or later, they’d have to simply accept destroying some of them. It wasn’t that bad when they were monsters that Kenshin simply seemed to make appear out of thin air, but the ones that he simply controlled… Those were different. Asahi felt horrible about destroying them… But she was beginning to think she wans’t going to have much of a choice, if these attacks kept up.

Ultimately, she decided that she’d have to talk to KPaRS about it. She wanted to hear their opinions, regardless of what would actually end up happening. She wasn’t sure she could avoid destroying some of those monsters, but there was never any way of knowing for sure. Not until the time came.

She’d made her decision, that wasn’t going to change. Whatever KPaRS felt about it, she’d stay firm. She thought they might agree with her, they were surely feeling the strain of all the monster attacks too. And hadn’t Mirai taught them? Sometimes you had to do the hard thing, even if you didn’t want to. Asahi knew she was willing to do the hard thing, to destroy the monsters if she had to.

Which had something to do with how she found herself at KPaRS’ base later that day. Really, she would have came there regardless. Regardless of the amount of monster attacks. Regardless of her decision.

She just… wasn’t sure when a good time to bring it up was. Probably when Jun, Rin, Fuyuko, and Matsuoka were all in the room, she supposed. They were the ones she wanted to hear the opinions of the most. Which meant waiting a bit, since Fuyuko was out.

Well, she could be patient. Besides, she was more than content cuddling with Lim some more, with Nova hanging out on her head, mimicking a hat as he liked to do. Even if the chairs weren’t the most comfortable to sit in and were really hard to find a good cuddling position in. She’d manage.

After however long – Asahi wasn’t sure how long she waited – Fuyuko finally returned. Upon noticing Asahi, Fuyuko looks over to her and calls out, “How are you doing, Asahi?” She makes her way over to her desk, “Not too tired, I hope.”

Looking up, Asahi smiles, “Yeah, I’m good.” She watched, for a moment, as Fuyuko sorted through some papers. “There is… There is something I want to talk about, though.”

Fuyuko looks up at that, “Oh really?” She sets the small stack of papers down, “What is it?”

Once again, Asahi was reminded of how much she didn’t want to have this conversation. But it was also one they really needed to have and there wasn’t really a point in trying to avoid it. She noticed that Nova and Lim had disappeared, she supposed they didn’t want this conversation, either.

“Well,” She began, taking a deep breath, “I’m just not entirely sure that we’re gonna be able to… Be able to calm down all these monsters.”

Jun looks up, tilting her head, “What do you mean?”

“There’s just been so many monsters…” Asahi tugged at the sleeve of her cardigan, but tried her best not to look away from them. “I don’t think it’ll be possible to calm them all down. We’ve managed so far…”

“But there’s no guarantee that our luck will continue,” Matsuoka finished in a solemn tone. Jun and Fuyuko turned their attention to him, while Rin watched the conversation. He continued, “Given the circumstances, I believe you’re right.”

Jun and Fuyuko seemed surprised, though Asahi wasn’t surprised. She recalled when she first met Jun, Jun had expressed quite the desire for the Kaijus that wandered into the city to be dealt with in a peaceful manner. So Jun’s reaction wasn’t surprising. Fuyuko, well, Asahi wasn’t too surprised either, though if anyone, she thought Fuyuko wouldn’t have too many problems.

“Captain?” Jun sounded both surprised and concerned.

Fuyuko shook her head, “I suppose you have a point,”

Jun spins her head around to look at Fuyuko. “Seriously?”

“There’s… There’s a lot of monsters,” Rin spoke up, “Like it or not, not every single one is going to calm down. Especially with the large amount we’ve been getting the past few weeks.” Rin tugged at the end of their scarf as they spoke.

There was silence for a moment, Jun seemed to be a bit conflicted. That was fair, Asahi didn’t like the idea either… But how much choice did they have? If the monster wasn’t going to calm down, they didn’t necessarily have the time to try and make it. Jun closed her eyes, clearly in thoughts.

When she finally opened them, she sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She fiddled with the goggles around her neck, “But I sure don’t like it.”

Matsuoka gave her a small smile, “I’d be worried if you did,”

Jun begrudgingly sat back down at her desk, Rin and Fuyuko following, though with less immense annoyance. That conversation was much less painful than Asahi had been expecting. Though she was thankful, given how awkward that conversation had been. Though Asahi wasn’t really sure what else to do about it.

So she attempted to relax into the chair, waiting. She didn’t think that Kenshin wasn’t going to send a monster today, but she could hope. Regardless, she needed to be ready if – or rather when – a monster attacked. Gomora appeared this time, cuddling into her, before falling asleep. And as far as Asahi was concerned, he had the right idea.

Next thing Asahi knows she’s being woken up by Rin. “Gonna really need your help today,” They said, “We’ve got two monsters.”

She looks over at one of the monitors, seeing the monsters. One was just… Just a dinosaur with a tank instead of legs. The other one greatly resembled a robot. It was tall, black with gold and silver accents. On its chest was some kind of window like object with a strange mix of colors. On its top part it looked a little like it had a face or an electrical plug in. One of its arms was some kind of gun. The strangest part was that Asahi thought she’d seen it before.

“We know what one of the Kaijus are,” Hisoka said, “Dinosaur Tank. We don’t know about the other, more robot like one.”

Actually, Asahi realized where she’d seen the monster before. It was a different color, more of a yellow or gold, but she’d seen it. She’d actually had a pretty bad experience with it. That was the robot that Aizen had, the one that was activated when D.R.L.N. got hacked. It had captured her and nearly killed her, were it not for the joint efforts of her brothers and Saki.

What was it called? King something? King… King Roe? No… King… King… “King Joe.”

Everyone looked at her. Hisoka blinked, “You know that thing?”

Asahi nodded, “In my world, except it wasn’t black…”

“Be careful,” Matsuoka said, “You might be familiar with King Joe, but there’s no guarantee that it works the same as the one you saw. I don’t imagine Dinosaur Tank will be too much trouble. But watch out for King Joe. All of you.”

They all nod, quickly heading to their respective duties. Asahi quickly transforms into Grigio, ready to fight the two monsters. Though Dinosaur Tank continues to stroll around the city, so to speak, King Joe immediately turned its attention to her. There was still some distance between them, though. The colorful window like objects on its chest glowed, sparking with something.

It shot two bolts from there, with said bolts combining into one ray. Asahi tried to dodge out of the way, but she had thought she needed to avoid two attacks, not one. So by the time they combined, she didn’t have a chance to move out of the way. The attack certainly hurt, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to take all that many attacks from the robot.

Asahi ran up to King Joe, attempting to punch it. Only to yank her fist back much quicker, as it was really, really, hard, even for a robot. In response, King Joe swung its own fist, hitting her hard. It knocks her back quite a bit.

So this was definitely hard, but that was fine. She could still do this. She summoned Miclas and Eleking to help her. Asahi brings out her bow, deciding that her best bet for fighting King Joe was going to be her bow. It her physical attacks weren’t that effective, then she’d just have to try something else.

Miclas bounded towards King Joe, grabbing onto the arm of the robot that was a regular arm. Eleking too moved towards King Joe, simply at a slower pace. Miclas seemed to be attempting to throw King Joe, but barely got a chance before King Joe shot at him with its gun hand. It took only one shot from the gun to make Miclas disappear.

Though King Joe tried to shoot at Eleking, Eleking managed to move out of the way, causing the attack to miss. Asahi took that opportunity to shoot a barrage of arrows at King Joe, though she couldn’t really tell how effective they were.

A surprise came quickly, though, as Asahi heard a strange sound. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, though the answer soon presented itself. It was Dinosaur Tank, making its way over. It roared, the sort of roar you’d expect from a dinosaur. The surprising part wasn’t Dinosaur Tank coming over, Asahi had been expecting something like that to happen. No, it was what Dinosaur Tank did that was surprising. Instead of attacking Grigio, like she expected, Dinosaur Tank fired its missiles at King Joe.

Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who wanted the robot gone. Though Dinosaur Tank didn’t get much of a chance to help. The moment it began to fire at King Joe, King Joe turned to face it and immediately shot its gun. In one shot, Dinosaur Tank was gone, blown up into many pieces. Asahi cringed. Clearly, King Joe wasn’t afraid of some destruction. Not that she was horribly surprised.

What could Asahi do to stop this robot, though? Well, it was made of metal so maybe… She looked over to Eleking, “Lim, I’ll distract King Joe,” She created an arrow in her free hand, “You try to electrocute it with everything you have.”

Eleking gave her a nod, moving to make it way towards King Joe, while Asahi shot her arrows. She managed to gain the robot’s attention, though barely. It leveled its gun at her, firing, though this time, she managed to dodge out of the way, barely. She continued to fire her arrows. But Eleking wasn’t nearly close enough to King Joe to shock it. She needed something more…

She lets go of her bow, instead grabbing the Mebius’ Crystal and placing it in her Gyro. She brings her arms together and focuses the energy and the fire. “Grigio Burning Shot!” The attack was a combination of her Grigio Shot and the power of Mebius’ Crystal. It flew towards King Joe, hitting it right in the chest, sending it stumbling backwards.

At this point, Eleking had gotten behind King Joe, so he grabbed the robot and electrocuted it. The amount of electricity in the attack was so much that Eleking disappeared right after, having wore himself out. The shock seemed to be enough to knock King Joe onto the ground, its lights going dim.

Carefully, Asahi took a few steps closer. Was it dead? Had they fried it or something? Truthfully, she didn’t know all that much about electronics, but she was pretty sure she saw some smoke coming out of King Joe. Whether that was as a result of her attack or Elekings – or neither – she didn’t know. But she was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be smoking.

Then King Joe’s lights come back and it stands up. It seems to look at her for a moment – or something – then she hears something shifting. It was loud and mechanical, so she assumed it was coming from King Joe. She yelped when King Joe split into four parts, each part flying away.

That was… Odd. But more importantly, she didn’t know if King Joe was going to come back.

\---

Elsewhere, a very annoyed Alien Babarue watched the fight, fiddling with a strange device as he ordered King Joe to leave. He frowned, watching as the four parts fled, allowing them to regroup elsewhere, away from the sights of the Ultrawoman or her human friends. He had been told that this job shouldn’t be too hard, especially with the King Joe Black he managed to snag (no, he wasn’t answering _how_ exactly he got the robot). But that was apparently not true.

Or maybe, he just should have been told the Ultrawoman had a Kaiju that could electrocute things on her side. That information would have been helpful. Regardless, he’d have to take this up with his… Employer. Because if he was going to keep going, he better get paid more, this was not what he was told it was going to be!

Speaking of employer, it sounded like him coming now. Alien Babarue’s employer was an eccentric person, Kenshin. Babarue, personally, didn’t care for him, but what did that matter?

“You didn’t say that she had an Eleking,” Babarue frowned, placing a hand on his hip.

Kenshin, the ass, just shrugged, not even sounding apologetic, “Oh, I didn’t? My bad,” If he had lips, he was probably frowning, “Anyway, you didn’t get rid of her.”

Babarue rolled his eyes, “Yeah, that’s going to be harder than you made it out to be,”

“Oh, so you can’t?”

“No, I can,” Babarue scoffed, “But it’s not going to be easy.”

“Who cares if it’ll be easy,” Kenshin turned to leave, “I just want her gone.”

Grigio wasn’t supposed to be causing so much trouble, she was supposed to be the weak one. So she got lucky against King Joe, Kenshin wasn’t just going to accept defeat. He’d worked on this plan a bit too long for that.

Though Grigio’s determine wasn’t planned for, Ultra or not, she was ultimately only human, and those who she worked with were even more so. So perhaps there was something to work with there…

Her ability to find a weakness in King Joe, though…

Kenshing hadn’t expected that.


	28. I'll Hold Tightly to This Special Bond That We Share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something strange is happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before the Finale! Which is a two parter.

For the city of Kurokita, the past several months had been very unusual. Instead of monsters occasionally wandering into the city and simple being taken out, the monsters began to rampage and attack the city. With the beginning of those strange occurrences, though, was also the appearance of something unlike anything anyone on Earth had ever seen. An orange giant appeared just days after the Kaiju started their strange behavior, bearing the name Ultrawoman Grigio. Grigio fought the monsters, calming them, and though others like her had appeared, she was the one who always showed up.

Since then, Grigio had somehow become something of a common fixture of life. She was always there to help save the day and stop the monsters. Though opinions on her varied, the general consensus was that she was helping. There were those who still didn’t trust her, but much the same there were those who thought her intentions were explicitly good.

In the wake of the previous few weeks, the citizens of Kurokita breathed a sigh of relief on the first day without a monster attack. The break from the constant attacks was nice, even if it made everyone wonder what had prompted the barrage in the first place. Or what had prompted the change. After a few days of nothing, people thought little of it, at most, they might have thought that things were calming down, if not returning to the way they had been.

Yet, like all things, nothing lasted. Except, no one could have predicted what would occur. The brief reprieve was shattered in a curious display, one that left many wondering. What had caused this change? Others would simply claim that they knew such a thing would have happened the entire time. But even they couldn’t have guessed what exactly was happening.

\---

When Asahi awoken, it was like any other day, to no surprise. She had been enjoying a break from all the monster attacks, like KPaRS was. Though they were thankful that the large amounts of attacks had stopped, they were all still suspicious. It didn’t make sense for them to just stop like that. Personally, Asahi thought it had something to do with that King Joe she had fought, it had flown off afterwards.

Regardless, there was nothing about her waking that would signify anything different than the past few days. She’d gone to bed early the night before and had fallen asleep rather quickly. Despite this, she didn’t really wake up any earlier than usual. Still she was surprised to see several texts and missed calls on her phone.

The only ones who had her phone number – in this dimension, at least – were Tomomi and KPaRS. She couldn’t think of any particular reason anyone would be trying so hard to get ahold of her, though. She was usually able to wake up when there was a monster attack, so it probably wasn’t that. She figured the best way to figure it out was to check, deciding it would be easiest to check her texts first.

**[Chikako at 2:42 AM] are you asleep**

**[2:43 AM] you better be asleep**

**seriously I hope you’re asleep**

That was odd… Why was Chikako texting her at that time of night – morning? – who wouldn’t be asleep at that time? Well, she knew Tomomi was sometimes up late like that. She moved on to her other texts, sent at a much more reasonable time this morning.

**[Tomomi at 7:20 AM] I’m pretty sure you’re still asleep… Anyway, when you get this, you should probably come over to KPaRS’ base.**

**[7:21] Something happened last night. And it just doesn’t add up.**

Okay, yeah, that was kind of concerning. Asahi frowned and stood quickly getting dressed. Whatever had happened, it was clearly important, so she was going to waste no time in getting over there and finding out what.

It didn’t take her too long to get there, though she was frankly pretty worried. Chikako was probably texting her when whatever had happened. Which made her wonder why Chikako wanted to know if she was asleep. And though it was hard to judge tone over text, Asahi would say that Tomomi seemed concerned.

It wasn’t like her rushing through the halls drew all that much attention. Well, maybe the rushing part, but she spent enough time around KPaRS’ base that it wasn’t that odd to see her there. Still, it felt like there was something else there, a sort of tension that wasn’t normally present. People in the halls were talking about something, but she didn’t pay attention.

Asahi found Tomomi and the members of KPaRS together, seemingly in the middle of a discussion. They all gave her odd looks, there was something she was clearly missing. Jun crossed her arms, eyeing Asahi ever so slightly. Chikako was the one who spoke up first, rushing up to her.

“Please, please, say you were asleep all night last night.”

That was… a strange question. Asahi tilted her head, “Yes?” Chikako had an oddly relieved look on her face, which was still pretty odd. “Why?”

Then Tomomi spoke up, “Like I said, I was up at the time.” He tapped his fingers on his notepad, “I would have heard if she got out of bed.”

“Uh, hey?” She spoke again, “Could someone explain what’s going on?”

Matsuoka seemed hesitant for a moment, before sighing. “It’s probably better if you see for yourself,” He turns his attention over to Hisoka, who looked like he barely slept the night before, “Were it not for the footage, I doubt many would believe it.”

What could be so crazy and unbelievable that the only way anyone would really think it happened would be because there was video? Given this was a city that had Kaiju show up almost regularly now, there wasn’t exactly a lot that Asahi could think of. Hisoka took a moment to type at his keyboard and click a few things, before a video finally popped up.

At first, Asahi wasn’t sure what was so unusual about the video. It showed the city, at night, going about as she assumed it would. There was some noise, though not a lot, given the hour. The timestamp was for 2: 39 AM, meaning most people were, unsurprisingly, asleep. Asahi wondered what Tomomi was doing up at that hour, but figured there were probably more important things to worry about.

Then there’s some sounds – she’s not quite sure what they are – and King Joe appears, landing with a thud. It wasn’t hard to see it, even though it was black, due to the lights on it. That was a surprise, though she was worried that it would appear again. But Asahi didn’t understand what had everyone so worked up, since they clearly didn’t need her to deal with King Joe. Although, maybe that was the stranger part.

Still, it was pretty worrisome that King Joe showed up at all, especially since it must have caused much damage. “King Joe showed up?”

Fuyuko shook her head, “It’s not just King Joe.”

“Then who-?” Asahi needn’t finish her question, as the answer soon appear itself on the screen. Landing beside King Joe was… Grigio.

Asahi blinked, “What?” Obviously, that wasn’t her, she was sleeping. But that certainly looked like Grigio! Which didn’t make sense because it wasn’t! But how? None of it really was making any sense. The rest of the video was just King Joe and “Grigio” causing trouble and destruction.

“I think,” Katushito began, “You can see why everyone was so… concerned.”

What was an appropriate response to all of this? Asahi wasn’t exactly sure… She pointed at the screen, “That looked like Grigio,” She said, weakly.

“Except you were very much asleep all night,” Tomomi reiterated, “So it clearly wasn’t.”

Rin leaned their head back for a moment, closing their eyes in thought. When they opened them, they offer, “Then it must have been someone who could appear as Grigio.” It seemed like the most logical conclusion, but it still left questions. Most prominently, who?

“Is that even possible?” Chikako asked, “I mean, like who can do that? A Kaiju? An Alien?”

There were murmurs of ideas, though no one really had a solid one. There were plenty of Aliens that _could_ disguise themselves as humans or other such things. The question was more who _would_. There was no particular reason for anyone to disguise themselves as Grigio. Whoever was, for whatever reason, was probably the one in control of King Joe. Though they still didn’t have too narrow of a list of who that could be. There were too many options.

“Maybe it has something to do with Kenshin?” Jun offered, finally speaking up. She had been oddly silent until then, for some reason or another.

Tomomi frowned, “Does he even have that ability?”

Tilting her head, Asahi adds, “It doesn’t matter if _he_ can. He could easily find someone who could and would be willing to attack.” Thinking back on it, it was odd how quickly and easily King Joe left. “I bet that’s also why King Joe fled after Lim shocked it.”

“Regardless, we now have both King Joe and this imposter Grigio,” Matsuoka brought all of their attentions to him. He looks at Asahi, “While you managed to chase King Joe off before, that may not work again. We’ll need to come up with a plan for both of them.”

Fuyuko drummed her fingers against her desk, “You said King Joe showed up in your world?” Asahi nodded, prompting Fuyuko to continue. “How was it beaten there?”

Asahi sighed, “I think Katsunii and Isanii brute forced it,” She tugs at the end of her cardigan, “I don’t really remember.” The main thing she remembered about the whole ordeal was that it was, well, an ordeal.

“As for the fake Grigio…” Tomomi trailed off, thinking, “I think you’d know best how to defeat it. It seems to have the same skills as you, at the very least.”

She was able to tell that much, but they didn’t have a good way of knowing if it had the same weaknesses as well. The only way they were going to find that out was if it appeared. Still, she knew her own weaknesses, “Well, I can’t take all that many hits,” She offered, “So I guess that might help?”

Jun sighed, “Better than nothing, I guess.”

“It’s not much to work with,” Matsuoka agreed, “But we’ll have to make due.”

Katsuhito spoke up next, “What do we do if they both show up again?” He crossed his arms, “Asahi can only really deal with one at a time.”

Matusoka frowned, “Yes, that will be a problem…” He tapped his fingers on his desk in thought. Even with the help of her Kaijus, it wouldn’t very easy for Asahi to deal with King Joe if it was alone. Without knowing all that much about the fake Grigio, it made it all harder. But it was very likely that she’d need the help of both her Kaijus in the fight against either. Which meant that if they both showed up, KPaRS would have to try to at least chase the other one off.

There was silence for a moment. “We have our net, I guess,” Rin offered, “It might not be too helpful… But I guess it could buy some time.”

With a frown, Chikako groaned and grabbed Katsuhito’s wrist, “We’ll see what we can do.”

“What?” Katsuhito nearly jumped, “What are we going to be able to do with an unknown deadline!”

“We’ll figure something out.” She drags him out of the room, leaving no room for anyone to really argue. Katsuhito seemed slightly resigned, but overall didn’t seem to mind.

Asahi frowned, unable to help her worry. She wanted to say that she was confident in her abilities to handle this, but she really wasn’t. This was nothing like anything she’d ever dealt with, really. She supposed there was that time with Zero Darkness, but even then, she’d only done so much. And this seemed… different.

Still, she had to try. She had her Kaijus to help, they’d do everything they could. KPaRS… They held belief in her, that she could do it. But what about everyone else? After the night before, who knows what people of the city thought of her.

Tomomi walks over to her, “It’ll be fine,” He said, almost as though he could read her mind. Or maybe she was simply that obvious. “Whatever’s going on… I know you and KPaRS can do it.”

Asahi sighed, “I’m just… Worried.” She looks over at him, “This is probably going to be the hardest fight so far, if only because it’ll probably be both King Joe and the Fake Grigio.”

She fiddles with the end of her cardigan, “I scared what will happen if I’m not… If I’m not strong enough.”

He gives her a smile, “You shouldn’t let those fears get to you,” He said, “All that will do is stop you from doing your best.”

“If I fail, if I can’t stop these monsters – or whatever they are,” She looks away, off out the window, “Then I’ve failed everyone.”

“But Asahi,” He gently places his hands on her shoulders, “Everyone believes you can do it.”

“Surely not everyone. Not after this imitation Grigio appeared.”

“Yet, as long as someone, whether or not it’s yourself, but as long as someone believes in you, then you’ll never fail.” Tomomi smiled, though it was small, “And everyone here believes in you. We’ll always believe in you.”

Asahi laughs, “If you say so.”

“It’s true.”

Maybe he was right. She didn’t really know a lot about Ultras, but that always seemed to be a thing. This strange ability to keep fighting as long as there was someone to fight for. Sometimes that could go hand in hand with the power that came from your bonds with someone too. For her brothers, how often had they found the strength to continue fighting because of someone they cared about? Even her own desire to help her brothers and Riku brought about the power to become an Ultrawoman.

Well, she was going to have to try.

\---

Did Asahi expect King Joe and the Fake Grigio to show up that day? No, not really. Was she proved wrong before the sun had even set? Yes.

As she rushed to transform and face the two, she knew she was going to have quite the work ahead of her. Two giants, both probably stronger than her, and KPaRS was only going to be so much help. She also didn’t know if Fake Grigio was also limited to three minutes or not. If not, that would make this whole thing even harder.

Her appearance gains the attention of both Fake Grigio and King Joe, the two turning to face her. Fake Grigio places their hand on their hip, giving off a smug aura. “Well, look who showed up this time?” It was uncomfortably her voice, something that nearly made her shiver. “Was our first demonstration too late for you?”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?”

Fake Grigio shrugs, “Oh, that’s not all that important to you.” They create their bow, aiming it at her, “Maybe just do me a favor and let me kill you, yeah?”

“No way!” She dodged out of the way of an arrow and used Mr. Juggler’s Crystal to summon her sword, dodging out of the way of several more arrows. King Joe turned its attention to KPaRS, leaving Asahi to face the Fake Grigio. Asahi continues to dodge arrows, making her way towards Fake Grigio.

She stabs at Fake Grigio, who dodges out of the way and responds with a kick. Asahi slashes, managing to hit Fake Grigio. Fake Grigio punches at Asahi, using the close proximity to their advantage. Asahi backs up, trying to put some distance, causing Fake Grigio to resume firing arrows. They paused for a moment to prepare a Grigio Shot, to which Asahi also moved out of the way of.

Fake Grigio growled in frustration, ultimately stomping their foot. “This isn’t worth it,” They turned around, “I’ll leave you to King Joe.” Fake Grigio flew off, leaving only King Joe.

She’s not sure about it, really, she wasn’t going to be able to beat it. But she was going to try. She switched her sword out for her bow, firing. When the arrow hit King Joe, she gained its attention. Its stalks over, charging the gun on its arm.

She had no choice but to dodge out of the way of the attack, rolling as it fired multiple times. She gets to her feet, quickly firing a barrage of arrows. There really wasn’t a plan for this fight, there wasn’t really much she could do. King Joe continued to move towards her, shaking the ground with every step.

Asahi attempts to use Mebius’ Crystal to aid her arrows, but failed to notice on of King Joe’s attacks, causing her to get hit. She gets knocked back, stumbling into a building, her Color Timer flashing. King Joe continues to move towards her, now close enough to grab her.

Despite her struggles against King Joe, its grip was tight and her swinging limbs were doing little to help. King Joe just shrug off her hits, just as it had when she fought it before. Jun and Rin flew by, attempting to shoot at King Joe themselves and help. Their efforts did little, though.

“Keep going!” Jun called out, “We know you can do it!”

Rin added, “You just can’t give up!”

Asahi couldn’t help but feel more determined at that. Sure, nothing had really changed, but knowing that her friends still believed in her, that they continued to believe in her even now, she felt that they were right. She couldn’t give up. She had to keep fighting, she had to keep going and defeat King Joe.

Though she was still unable to free herself from King Joe’s grasp, as the robot raised its other arm and prepared to fire, something crashes into King Joe, causing it to drop her. Having knocked King Joe to the ground, Miclas – not exactly stood on it, more like jumped into it. Still, Miclas attempts to stand up, though not particularly able to balance on King Joe.

While Miclas ultimately decides to stand on the ground and simply put himself between her and King Joe, Asahi pushes herself up off the ground. She grabs Eleking’s Crystal, turning to him once he appeared. “We need to throw everything we can at it.” Eleking nods, turning towards King Joe.

King Joe prepares to fire its beam on its chest, so Asahi and Eleking move up to stand beside Miclas. As Miclas prepares to fire his heat ray, Eleking began to focus his electricity. Asahi begins to prepare her Grigio Shot alongside the two. Eleking attacks first, sending a bolt of lighting from the mouth like part of his face. King Joe seemed to be stunned from the attack, giving Asahi and Miclas a chance to fire their own attacks.

Unable to move out of the way of the attacks, as it was still stunned by Eleking, King Joe had no option but to take the two attacks. Once it was hit, it stumbled backwards a bit, then seemingly froze. Smoke began to poor out of every crack and space, sparks began to fly. Then, they suddenly stopped, only for King Joe itself to explode.

Somehow, they managed to do it. Asahi wasn’t really sure how, but she sure was happy they did. She lets out a cheer, then returns to human form. That fight was exhausting and she was pretty sure she was going to be feeling it for a while.

\---

“Well!” The tone Kenshin took was a kind of strained cheer. It was obvious he was upset, but was trying, to some degree, to hide it. Or perhaps, he simply knew that would make people more uncomfortable. “Some plan you had there!”

Babarue shrugged, not particularly bugged by the outcome, though he would appreciate if Kenshin calmed down a bit. “It’s fine. Now I really have a good idea of what she’s capable of…” Capable of destroying King Joe, for example. Which certainly made her stronger than he’d initially been told, but that was fine. He could work with that. “I’ll just have to deal with it myself.”

Kenshin didn’t have an expressive face, or if he did it was hidden by the mask like feature on his face. But you didn’t need to be able to see his face in order to tell he was annoyed. “It better get dealt with.” He turned away, grumbling to himself, “Or I might have to do it myself.”

Babarue, despite having heard Kenshin’s grumbling, chose to ignore it. After all, he had to plan about how to get rid of a brat and her Kaijus. That was already proving to be harder than he initially expected.

Given everything she’d shown herself capable of, Kenshin really should have been expecting this.


	29. Past the Distant Sky, I See a World Where Lives Collide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has to end eventually. It might hurt, but it'll happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to upload these.

There is a peculiar feeling that one might experience, a feeling that could best be describe as an often inexplicable expectation that something might soon come to an end. A feeling that occurred almost randomly, seemingly unprompted. It might appear as though something was ending, though there was often little indication that anything was, nor that anything was significantly changing. It was a feeling that said something would happen, something would end, despite nothing truly making it seem that way.

It wasn’t something that could be helped, it happened unbidden. Often, it meant nothing, having no reason for its existence, simply happening. Yet sometimes, it overwhelmingly felt as though it meant something. That something was going to end, something would be ending soon. It was near impossible to dismiss, no matter how much one might tell themselves they should.

That was the feeling that Asahi felt, one cloudy Tuesday morning. She awoke with it, unable to pinpoint the source, what might have caused it. It felt like something major would happen, what she was unsure. Though she attempted to dismiss the feeling, little she could do would take her mind off it for long. Yet, it was harder to pretend it meant nothing then it was to pretend that her subconscious might have been trying to tell her something.

On the TV off to her side, the news played, currently on the weather. Cloud today, the man said, with rain later. He told that if luck was on everyone’s side, by sunset it might clear up, allowing the remaining rays of light to find their way to the eyes of all those looking. It wasn’t all that interesting, not something that Asahi particularly cared about. All she gleamed from it was that she needed to bring her umbrella if she went out, as she had little desire to get wet.

The feeling didn’t horribly distract her from what had occurred the week before, from the person who chose to pretend to be her. The one who had sent King Joe, who most likely had some connection to Kenshin. There was much on her mind, things that the strange feeling that something might end couldn’t distract her from. She knew she couldn’t let it distract her, for there were other matters far too important.

Asahi held a pencil in hand, a piece of note paper resting on the table. She found herself writing, nothing in particular, just thoughts. About everything that had happened since she came to Kurokita. About Tomomi and KPaRS, her Kaijus, Kenshin, everyone she’d met since arriving. It was almost like a letter, though there was no one in particular it was addressed to. She let her thoughts flow, occasionally erasing a word or phrase. She had no true intention, she simply wrote what came to her.

_They’re all wonderful people, I can’t imagine what it would have been like to come to Kurokita without even one of them. If it wasn’t for Tomomi, everything would have been, at best, so much harder. At worst, I might not have even managed to make it this far. All of KPaRS seem so kind – and they are. They care about the Kaiju, but they also recognize that they have a duty to protect everyone in the city._

She stopped, reading what she had just wrote, smiling. It was still hard for her to truly realize that everything had actually happened. Ever since she came to Kurokita, it was like a strange story, more than anything else. Maybe it was because she was detached from everything she’d known before. She’d left her family in Ayaka, coming to Kurokita with no connections, knowing little of what was going on.

It was like she was in a crazy book or something. But despite how surreal it was, she still knew, somehow, that it was all real. Maybe that was what seemed to be ending. The surreal feeling of being in some kind of fairytale, the feeling that she might be the protagonist who could fix the world and be on her way to a happy ending. Yet, the Fake Grigio she fought before, it made her wonder. Would there be a happy ending? Would any of this end?

She wasn’t sure what prompted the train of thought, but it most certainly existed. Would she ever return to Ayaka and her family? She hadn’t a way to know, but she liked to think it was possible. Some part of her insisted it was, that one day she’d see her family and her home again. All she knew for sure was that if she ever did, she would not be the same person, much like the change she experienced over the time she’d known Saki.

Asahi set the pencil down, glancing over at the TV. It had changed from the news to something else, a children’s show of a heroes who both befriended their enemies and fought them. The heroes were colorful, coming in many colors, kind and happy for they knew their lives were what they wished it to be. Asahi didn’t watch many shows like it, she had vague memories that said she had, but she knew they hadn’t truly occurred. She was never a child, she simply had a false memories of one, memories that lacked detail and seemed as unknown as the depths of space.

Yet there was something about the show that made her smile. Perhaps it was the personalities of the heroes, or maybe it was the actions of the heroes. She wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but she decided that it wasn’t important. She picked up the piece of paper, folding it and placing it into her pocket.

Though it was dreary weather, though she knew it would probably rain, Asahi wanted to see her friends at KPaRS. It was an unusual desire, especially given the impending rain, but she didn’t mind. She grabbed an umbrella before leaving, so that she might have it on hand if – or rather when – it began to rain.

Was there a particular reason she wished to see them? No, but it didn’t matter, she needed no reason to see her friends. She wasn’t used to being around so many at a time, throughout her life she only ever spent time around a few at any given moment. It was a choice, she certainly had friends, but it was always hard to gather them all up at once. And at the time before she had arrived in Kurokita, many of her friends had become much more busy, or had left Ayaka entirely.

\---

Tomomi wasn’t actually working today, but he didn’t tell Asahi that. Because though he wasn’t working on a piece in the way he normally did – and truly he wasn’t supposed to be working on anything at all – He still was doing some research. Given everything that had been happening, he had a peculiar inspiration, his focus on KPaRS. It wasn’t like he hadn’t written articles about them before, he had a few times. But he wanted people to realize how much work KPaRS has been putting in since the Kaijus had began to rampage.

He knew how Asahi could be, so he purposely didn’t mention his current project. Besides, there was a lot of things he still needed to do before he’d be ready to even write it. And… He had a feeling Grigio was probably going to creep her way into it, but that was on him.

So he made his way to where he was supposed meet with Matsuoka – to talk about a variety of things, some of which may have had little to do with his newest project. Upon entering, he found Matsuoka frowning at some papers. It wasn’t really odd, Tomomi could have sworn that Matsuoka frowned at nearly every piece of paper work he was handed.

Matsuoka looked up, giving Tomomi a smile, “I almost didn’t hear you,”

“Well that’s not my fault, I wasn’t trying to be quiet,” Tomomi laughed. He sits down across from Matsuoka, glancing at the papers. “What’s got you frowning now?”

Matsuoka sets the papers face down, a habit he’d had for years. He sighed, “Our Kaiju expert has decided to quit, citing health issues brought on by stress.” Drumming his fingers on the table, he continues, “Obviously that means we’ll have to look for someone else.”

Tomomi gives him a reassuring smile, “I’m sure you’ll find someone.” Then he frowns, “Though I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t expect a job here to be stressful…”

“It really wasn’t though. At least before the Kaiju rampages and Grigio.”

Flipping through the pages of his notepad, Tomomi responds, “I suppose you’re right…” He jots a note on the pad, _sudden rise in work due to Kaiju attacks._ The notes were simple, serving only the purpose of reminding him when he went to write. One ought to give KPaRS credit for managing to continue to do their job, despite the fact that they were understaffed for the large amount of monster attacks that had began to occur. “Bet finding someone will be really fun.”

Matsuoka responded with a smile and a laugh, nodding. It wasn’t exactly like those well versed in Kaiju studies were hard to find, but they sometimes were a bit… eccentric. Not to mention that despite KPaRS being what it was, there never was a lot of people jumping to join. It was often considered a sleepy job, though opinions might have changed in light of recent events.

Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard to find someone, but it would still probably be an interesting process. Either there will be many applicants, or there will be few, as it would have been before. It would probably be the latter though. As soon as things began to calm down, whenever that may be, Kurokita and everyone else would quickly forget everything. It’d be a mark, maybe something mentioned in some news articles, but it would be moved past as quickly as many other things.

What will Asahi do when everything’s calmed down? If Kenshin is defeated, then would Asahi even have a way home? It wasn’t something that could really be answered right now. Or maybe some of it could be. Asahi would want to go home, and maybe she had a way, maybe she didn’t. Somehow, Tomomi figured it would probably work out, if only because that’s the sort of thing that seemed to happen.

He decided he should probably get to why he was actually here in the first place. “So, aside from that, how have things been going?”

\---

Akimitsu had a very interesting project assigned today – or at least he thought so. Write an essay about someone who inspires you. He was so excited for it, which was an odd thing to say, because who was ever excited for a school assignment, especially an essay. He even knew exactly who he was going to write it on!

If any of his classmates, friends – or anyone who knows him – were surprised at who he was doing it on, then they clearly weren’t paying attention to him. Because he talked about Grigio a lot, he had since she appeared. He always knew that Grigio was a hero and now that he had even met her, he knew she was someone who inspired him.

She could work with Kaijus to protect everyone, even actively befriending them. When Grigio fought, she often chose to pacify Kaijus instead of destroying them. She was a hero who he knew wasn’t perfect, Asahi had shown that. But no one was, and her was more than willing to find a way to write that in his essay.

Although… Given the appearance of that other Grigio, even if one of them was clearly fake, some people wouldn’t agree with him. But he knew what he believed! That Fake Grigio just wanted people not to trust the real one! But the opinions of other people might be different. That was fine, people were allowed to have their opinions, he just wasn’t going to agree with them. Which was fine. Though given how clear it was that one of those Grigios were fake, he didn’t understand how anyone could still think that way.

But maybe they were simply looking for a reason not to like her, Akimitsu knew that some people did that. So when the Fake Grigio appeared, they just jumped at having some reason to say she was bad. Or something like that.

He gets home from school, surprised to see Hiroko home. She was reorganizing one of the bookshelves in the living room, a stack of books, small boxes, and various small things on the table. It probably needed it, but it was still strange to see.

“You’re home?”

Hiroko looks up, giving him a smile, “I have today off, remember?” She picks up one of the books, flipping through the pages, a small smile on her face. If he recalled correctly, that was one of their picture books. “I know I’m working a lot, but…”

He sets his bag down, grinning, “No, it’s fine!” He rushes up to her and gives her a hug, “You’re just doing your best.”

She laughs, “Okay, alright!” She ruffles his hair, “How was school?”

“As school usually goes,” Akimitsu replied, sitting down on the couch, “Oh! We got a really fun assignment today!”

“Oh really?” Hiroko responds, closing the book and returning it to the shelf. She picks up a small box, filled with small little things. “That’s surprising.”

With a shrug, he replied, “Well, we have to write an essay about someone who inspires us.”

The knowing look she gave told him that she had a good idea as to why he was excited about the essay and who he was going to write about. Still, she inquired, “Who are you going to write the essay on?”

Akimitsu grins, “Grigio, of course.”

In response, Hiroko laughed, “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Well! Grigio’s really cool!”

She nodded, “I suppose you have a point,” Akimitsu couldn’t tell if she was joking and poking fun at him or not. “Well, I hope you have fun writing it.”

“Oh, I will,” He said, “I’m already thinking about what I’ll write.” He picks up a little card he made as a part of a school project several years before. He had given it to Hiroko, who proudly displayed it on the shelf. Choko had a similar one, which she kept on her desk.

“Of course you are,” Hiroko returned a few more books to the shelf.

“It’ll be great!”

“Knowing how passionate you are about Grigio,” She comments, “I’m positive it will be.”

\---

Asahi’s feeling, it hasn’t gone away. It still felt like something was going to happen, though she still didn’t know what. It was odd, but she could ignore it easily. She was watching as Chikako and Katsuhito worked on something, not that she was sure what.

She had some distance between her and the two, mostly because she wanted to be away from them in case whatever they were working on blew up. Given Chikako was working on it, it was a very real possibility. The two were always working on something, it felt like. Maybe it was because there was always something that they needed to fix.

“What are you two working on today?” She called to the two.

Katsuhito simply glanced over his shoulder and smiled, while Chikako turns around and waves with a huge grin. Chikako was the one who responded, “Fixin’ up our net!” She waved a screwdriver around, “Hopefully we can get it so it works twice as fast!”

With a sigh, Katsuhito nodded, clearly not surprised by Chikako’s enthusiasm. He rolled his eyes and added, “If we can get it to be more effective…” He paused, tilting his head, “Well, I guess it won’t do that much. But it might be helpful.”

“Anything that can help,” Asahi nodded, “It could make a difference.”

“Exactly!” Cheered Chikako, who now spun back to the table, causing Katsuhito to move slightly, trying to avoid getting hit one of her wayward limbs. “So we gotta make it better!”

Katsuhito raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t that what you say about everything?”

“Eh, maybe. Probably.”

Though she didn’t sound horribly sure, it was also a very Chikako answer. Asahi really wouldn’t be surprised if Katsuhito was right and that was what Chikako said about everything. The only response Katsuhito gave was an eyeroll and a small smile.

Asahi pushed herself off the table she was leaning against. While watching the two work reminded her of Isami and their mom, it was only interesting for so long. So she was going to go talk with someone else, especially since Chikako and Katsuhito were busy working. She didn’t want to interrupt them, so it wasn’t like she was going to continue trying to distract them.

So she made her way to where everyone else was, figuring that even if everyone was too busy to talk, she could still look out the window. When she entered the room, she realized that though Jun, Fuyuko, Rin, and Hisoka were there, someone was still missing. Oddly, Matsuoka wasn’t at his desk, only strange because of all of them, he was the one who was at his desk the most.

Fuyuko noticed Asahi gaze curiously at the empty desk and said, “Captain’s busy right now. Not sure what, but he should be back soon enough.”

“Ah,” Came Asahi, who just walked to sit down, “Anything interesting happen?”

Rin shakes their head, “Nope,” They scribble something on a piece of paper, “Boring as it ought to be.”

“Always good when nothing happens,” Jun adds, shuffling some papers with a bored look on her face.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Asahi leans back in the chair, “Still I… I guess I just have a weird feeling.”

Rin looks up, frowning slightly, “What kind of feeling?”

Asahi tilts her head back, thinking. She was trying to think of the best way to describe the feeling, because it wasn’t something easy to describe. “I guess it’s that weird feeling you get when it seems like something’s going to end even though you have no reason to think that.” She wasn’t sure if that was the best way to describe it, but it was the best she could do. “Does that make sense?”

Drumming her fingers against her desk, Fuyuko responds, “I think so,”

“Sure,” Jun shrugged, “I mean, I think we all know the feeling.”

“Who knows,” Rin wondered aloud, “Maybe it means something.”

Asahi shrugged, “I hope not,” She looked out the window, “I’m honestly afraid of what it might mean if it does.”

Everyone returned to their tasks, leaving Asahi to her thoughts, staring out the window. She hoped that Rin wasn’t right, that the feeling she had meant nothing. But at the same time, maybe if it meant something, that something could be important. It was hard for her to decide what she’d prefer. Maybe she didn’t prefer either.

This feeling of ending or large change, made her think. What would she do once Kenshin was gone – if he was ever gone? It was hard to say what exactly Kenshin would do, so the idea that he might eventually go away was still hard to imagine. But if Kenshin was ever gone, she’d like to go home, it wasn’t like Kurokita would need her at that point. Not that she was sure how she’d get home in the first place. But she really was missing her family.

Maybe that return would be less sudden than her arrival to Kurokita. Maybe it wouldn’t be, she wasn’t really sure. She had a feeling that either way, she’d miss everyone here. They were her friends, she didn’t really want to say goodbye, even though she knew that she eventually would have to. But one day it would happen and she’d just have to do it.

It wasn’t like there was much going on that day, though Asahi spent much of it expecting something, at least in the back of her mind. A boring day could easily change, simply from one thing happening, and she wasn’t going to put it past the sort of odd things that tended to happen. Of course, if something happened, it would probably be a Kaiju attack. But if that happened, she was ready, be it a monster or the Fake Grigio.

Asahi pulled the piece of notepaper from earlier out of her pocket, pencil in hand. She began to write, nothing in particular, once more. Maybe she could write about her Kaijus? Hm… No… Something else, then. There was just so much she could write about, so much. From Ayaka to Kurokita, there were so many amazing people and amazing things that have happened.

After a while, Matsuoka returned, giving her a wave. He sat at his desk and began to get to work on all his paperwork. She didn’t pay him much mind, though she waved in response. He had his paperwork to do, she had her random writings. At this point she had already filled out the front page of the piece of notepaper. She’d even started little doodles in the margins, her Kaijus, Grigio, things like that.

“Everyone,” Hisoka announced at some point, sounding rather tired, “Guess who just decided to show up.” He shows them the video of what was going on, no one particularly surprised to see the Fake Grigio standing about the city. They didn’t seem to be doing much this time, but as far as they knew, it was only a matter of time before that changed.

“The Fake Grigio, again,” Rin noted, their tone dry.

Jun stands looking thoroughly unimpressed, “Well, they don’t have King Joe to fall back on, so at least they probably won’t run away.” She then looks to Matsuoka, “What’s the plan, Captain?”

“We need to stop the Fake Grigio,” He responds, “Everyone knows their duties.”

Everyone nods, then rushes to what they needed to do. Asahi knows she’ll get there first, but that was fine. She had her Kaijus and it seemed like Fake Grigio didn’t have that power, so she should be at an advantage. The only thing she really needed to worry about was the Fake Grigio running away again. And like Jun said, they probably wouldn’t run away without King Joe, at least if they have some kind of goal.

She transformed, landing in front of the Fake Grigio, not summoning her Kaijus or her weapon yet. She was hoping to be able to simply convince Fake Grigio to leave, and since they weren’t armed, she was hesitant to get her own. “I don’t know why you’re here or what exactly you’re trying to accomplish,” She began, carefully watching Fake Grigio. “You can just leave and we can settle this without a fight.”

Fake Grigio laughs – something that’s so unsettling – and shrugs, “I can’t do that!” It’s like their mocking Asahi’s personality with their cheerful response. Then they summoned their bow, “I have a job to do.”

Asahi wasn’t surprised by the response, she’d been more or less expecting it. So, she summoned her sword, immediately dodging out of the way of multiple oncoming arrows. Out of the way, she decides to call on Regina and Bemstar to help her. She could always rely on Regina and Bemstar would be useful for a large amount of the Fake Grigio’s powers.

Dodging the way out of a barrage of arrows, Asahi dashes towards Fake Grigio, sword in hand. She has to continue to dodge the arrows until she’s finally close enough to stab at them. Though Fake Grigio managed to dodge out of the way of the initial stab, Asahi was able to slash at them from there. Attack caused Fake Grigio to stumble back slightly, though they shot an arrow at her. She wasn’t able to dodge the arrow due to how close it was, though it didn’t hurt her too much.

In response to Fake Grigio’s attack, Regina roared, launching her missiles. Fake Grigio was able to destroy a few of the missiles with arrows and able to dodge out of the way of several more. Ultimately, only a few missiles actually hit them. Fake Grigio fires a Grigio Shot, prompting Regina to grab Asahi and pull her away. Bemstar moves in the way of the attack, swallowing it in his second mouth. Then, he threw the attack back at it.

Regina blew her fire breath at Fake Grigio after they were hit by the countered beam. After this barrage of attacks, Fake Grigio’s form shifted, no longer appearing as Grigio. Now there stood a gold and black Alien with orange hair, with spikes on his shoulders and arms. Apparently, they had done enough damage to knock away the alien’s illusion.

The alien stumbled back, grunting. When he realized that his appearance had returned to normal, he growls, “Oh, come on!” Then he tries to straighten up, grimacing, “Tch. Whatever.”

Asahi stumbles back as a flurry of dark magenta feathers fly by, soon taking form off to the side of the alien, revealing Kenshin. Kenshin seemed to be slightly annoyed, crossing his arms, tilting his head in the alien’s direction. “I thought you said you had it handled.” Then he reaches with his foot to spin around and face the alien, “Or is one brat too much trouble for you?”

Well, that answered why the alien was here. It was because of Kenshin, unsurprisingly. Given how annoyed Kenshin sounded, it only added to the idea that he had something to do with it.

The alien huffed, “You’re the one who keeps insisting it would be easy.” Then he scoffs, “Actually, if you think it’s so easy, do it yourself.”

The alien turns, then leaves, barely giving Asahi time to register what had happened. She blinks. Then Kenshin growls, sounding unbelievably annoyed. He spins to face Asahi, giving off the feeling of very murderous intent.

“You’ve caused a lot of trouble, you know that Grigio?” There seemed to be almost a shift in personality when he spoke. He wasn’t as he had been, he sounded far more dangerous. He slowly takes a step forward, “I think it’s time we end this.”

Asahi took a deep breath, steadying herself. “I think so too.”


	30. Leave Behind the Pain You’ve Known, and Open Up Your Heart So You Can Live and Learn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi has one choice, defeat Kenshin and return home.

Though the alien had left, Asahi still had Kenshin left to deal with. They both wanted this to end, Kenshin so he could get his revenge and move on to Rosso and Blu, Asahi so she could return home and keep him from gaining his revenge. She wasn’t really sure if she would be able to defeat him, but she was going to try. Even if she didn’t, Kenshin would still tried to kill her, so there wasn’t much choice in the matter.

Along with her preparations – at least mental ones – to fight Kenshin, came Rin and Jun, who were at the very least trying to keep their distance. Part of that came from not really knowing what Kenshin was capable, another part from simply trying to keep from distracting Grigio. No one really knew what Kenshin was capable of, not exactly. But Asahi was ready, or at least as ready as she’d ever be.

Kenshin’s usual demeanor returned, at least for a moment, long enough to say, “This will simply be the start of my revenge.” Even then, it wasn’t all there. He still seemed so annoyed, clearly ready to fight.

“We’ll see about that,” Asahi traded her sword for her bow, deciding that she was going to take the distance route, at least for now. She raises it and pulls the string back, creating an arrow, ready to fire.

Spreading his arms out wide, Kenshin laughs, “Let the game begin!” Then he shifts into a fighting stance. He dodges out of the way of the arrows running towards her. He punches at her, filled with aggression. She dodges out of the way as Regina roared and swung her tail at him.

Bemstar shoots at Kenshin, managing to knock him back. With an annoyed grunt, Kenshin kicked at Bemstar, causing him to stumble backwards. Regina punches at Kenshin, giving Asahi an opportunity to move back and put more space between them. She tried to fire a barrage of arrows, but Kenshin elbowed Regina to push her away and destroyed the arrows with brief energy shots.

Asahi realized that she wasn’t really making all that much progress with her bow, returning to her sword. Bemstar roared and got up, swinging his arm at Kenshin, followed by Regina firing her missiles. Kenshin retaliated against Bemstar by punching him, causing him to disappear. Though Regina’s missiles had hit him, it seemed as though they hadn’t hurt him at all.

Sword in hand, Asahi ran towards him, swinging her sword. He dodges out of the way, then kicks her, knocking her back slightly. She stabs at him, though he simply steps out of the way. With every attack of her sword, he just moved out of the way. Regina roars, prompting Asahi to move out of the way, as Regina breathe her flame breath.

This attack seemed to at least do something to Kenshin, though it mainly burned the stray feathers on him. In retaliation, Kenshin raised a hand towards Regina, shooting at beam at her. Regina let out a cry as she disappeared, leaving Asahi to fight him on her own.

She wasn’t really sure what she was going to do, from here. She hadn’t actually expected to have to fight Kenshin today. Even if she had, without knowing what he was capable of, it was hard for her to come up with a plan. Even now as she was fighting him, learning what he could do, she was struggling to come up with a plan.

Kenshin came up to her and punched, which she barely managed to stop with her sword. He barely seemed to recognized that he had just punched a sword, instead simply kneeing her. The force was strong enough to knock her over and drop her sword, her Color Timer turning red. He stood over her, seemingly smug.

“Oh, look. The little Ultra has lost.” Kenshin’s tone was mocking, smug. But it was also the tone of someone who was satisfied with how something was going. He probably was, given he was winning this fight. “Not that I’m surprised.”

Rin frowned as her and Jun watched, “Isn’t there something we can do?”

“A little,” Was Jun’s only response before flying closer to Kenshin, “I mean, we have a net,” A net they utilized, as it had two features. While trying to freeze Kenshin probably wouldn’t be too useful, but trying to shock him… Well neither would probably going to be too effective, but something would be better than nothing.

When the net landed on Kenshin, he at first seemed mildly annoyed. When they activated the shock setting, his annoyance grew, though not much. Asahi watched as he simply grabbed the net and tore it, giving off the impression of a strong frown.

She knew she had to do something, she tried to struggle to her feet, though she only managed to get her knees under her. There were people relying on her, and though she knew she was running out of time and energy, she had to keep going. Did she have a way to defeat Kenshin? No, not really. Was she going to try anyway? Absolutely.

Asahi kicks her legs out at Kenshin’s, knocking him down with a yelp. She manages to stand up, determined to stop Kenshin. He grumbles, pulling himself back up.

“You’re quite the pain, Grigio,” He grits out, sounding the most annoyed he’d been the entire time. “I’ll admit, not what I was expecting when I brought you here.”

She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself on her shaking legs, “We both agreed, this has to end here and now.”

He laughed, “Oh, of course.” Kenshin punched at her, though she managed to dodge out of the way. She kicks him, sending him back a bit.

Now she had one thing planned, “Grigio Shot!” The attack hit Kenshin, there was very little room for him to move out of the way. He stumbles backwards with a grunt, placing his hand on the spot where the attack hit.

“Oh!” He cried, “Oh the pain!”

That made Asahi pause. Was he being serious?

“I think I might die a this very moment!” Seriously? Who says that if they’re actually dying? Somehow, she didn’t think that Kenshin would be the one who would. Although, she wouldn’t be surprised either, she still doubted it.

Then there’s an explosion from him and when the smoke clears, there’s nothing else there. Asahi stood there for a moment, before she returned to human form. She was tired from the fight, but hopeful that it all may be over.

\---

Asahi waited two weeks, wondering if something might happen. But in those two weeks after her fight against Kenshin, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Two weeks with no Kaijus attacks, no nothing. Which made it seem like Kenshin was really gone. And if Kenshin was gone.

“Are you sure it’ll be alright if I leave?” She asked, fiddling with the strange Crystal of the Silver Ultra. She figured that if it managed to send Mebius back to his world, then it ought to work for her. Hopefully. But even though she hadn’t quite left, she was still hesitant. What if Kenshin wasn’t dead?

“We’ll be fine,” Tomomi reassured, handing her a spare bag with the few things she acquired in Kurokita.

Jun crossed her arms and smiled, “We can handle ourselves with just a few Kaiju.”

Though she was hesitant to leave, Asahi would be lying if she said she didn’t want to go home and see her family. Yet now, as she prepared to leave, she couldn’t help but feel tears well in her eyes. “Al- Alright.”

Fuyuko gave her a small smile, “Aw… Don’t cry too much.”

“I’m just… I’m gonna miss you guys so much!” Asahi ran up to Tomomi and gave him a hug. If she was going to leave then she was going to at least have that.

A huge grin grew on Chikako’s face as she cried out, “Group hug!” Everyone joined in, they too would miss Asahi.

After a while, they all slowly began to pull away, freeing Asahi of the last thing keeping her there. She giggled slightly. She was definitely going to miss them, but she knew she couldn’t stay here forever.

Katsuhito waved, “Now you need to get home.” He said, “Your brothers are worried.”

“Yeah,” She had a sad smile on her face, then turned away from them, taking out her Gyro. First she transforms into Grigio, then she placed the Silver Ultra’s Crystal into her Gyro. When she used the Crystal, a light appeared, soon taking the shape of a large portal.

Asahi looked over her shoulder, to her friends, “Goodbye!” She called, a bittersweet moment. They all called their goodbyes and Asahi turned to face the portal.

She had the intention to simply stick her head through, first, to make sure it actually went where she wanted it to. But when she did so, it pulled her, causing her to fall through it entirely. She seemed to have lucked out, though, as it certainly looked like Ayaka. There, off a ways, was even the Aizen Tech building.

“Asahi!?” Two voices called out. She turned to face them, seeing her brothers pointing at her, seeming surprised.

“I’m back!” She cheered, then threw herself at them and hugging them.

There’s the sound of someone awkwardly shifting, pulling Asahi’s attention to behind her brothers. Standing there was Zero, who seemed to be unsure what he should be doing at the moment.

She tilts her head, confused, “What’s Zero doing here?” Then she adds, “Uh, hi Zero?”

Her brothers pulled away, then looked at each other for a moment. Then Katsumi looked at her, “Let’s head home first.”

When they arrive back at Quatro M, Asahi is wrapped up in another hug, this time from her parents. Asahi couldn’t describe how happy she was to see them, how much she missed them. She pulled herself away, “Okay, but seriously, why is Zero here?”

It was Zero who responded, “Your brothers were so worried they recruited me to try to help find you,” He sighed, “So that’s why I’m here.”

“Oh, okay.” She noted, “Oh! I should tell you about everything that happened!”

And she did. She recounted Kenshin, Kurokita, KPaRS, Tomomi and such. Her brothers’ reactions toggled between worried and proud. Zero just listened, seemingly impassive. Her parents leaned more towards the proud of her rather than worried, but there were still some moments.

“Wait,” Isami stopped, “You’re telling me you can just summon Kaijus now?”

Cheerfully, Asahi tilted her head and responded, “As long as I have a Crystal for them!” She pulls out Regina’s Crystal as an example, “They’re really helpful.”

It didn’t take long for all of them to fall back into their normal routine. Asahi watched as Zero seemed to fall right into everything as well. She knew what had happened, but it was still entertaining to watch, simply because Zero still seemed a bit lost at times. After dinner had passed and after everyone had gone to bed, Asahi tiptoed out.

Zero was standing outside the shop, not noticing as Asahi walked out to him. “You’re gonna leave now, aren’t you?”

He spun around, seemingly startled to see her. “Ah, well, I’ve already been here a while,” He explained, “And since you’ve gotten back, I should really be getting back to things.”

Asahi nods, “Right,” She gave him a smile, “Well, thank you for trying to help!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zero turned around and transformed, “See ya!”

“Bye Zero!” She called, then paused for a moment. Given how her family had been – and knowing how they were with Riku – she had a pretty good idea about things. “Or maybe I should call you big bro now?”

He spun around, “What?”

With a blink, she responded, “What, didn’t you notice?” Then she shrugged, “I’m pretty sure my family just kinda… adopted you while I was gone.”

Zero paused, then just shook his head, “Your family is weird,”

“Excuse me, my family is great!”

With a laugh, he turned around again, then jumped, leaving. Asahi waved as he left, calling out, “Don’t forget you should stop by sometime!”

Asahi had to say, she didn’t mind the ending to this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though this might have come to an end, there's still more story left to tell. I have something else for Asahi in the works, I just don't have lots of time and motivation for long stuff right now.


End file.
